


Promise Me This

by ulrikkefalc



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kisses, First Relationship, Fluff, For the most part, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Post BoO, Slow Burn, a HINT of dark!percy just bc its fun!, bc getting into a relationship is NOT easy or simple, nico and will figure their shit out and get together, solangelo, surprisingly more plot than i had initially anticipated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 41,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25923637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ulrikkefalc/pseuds/ulrikkefalc
Summary: Maybe he was so relieved that it was all finally over that his guard was down. Maybe the lack of sleep and food was messing with his head. Maybe the idea of resting in a cot for a few days was more tempting than he would ever admit. (He wouldn't have to talk to anyone, do anything. Ambrosia and nectar would be brought directly to his bedside. There was even a distinct possibility that he could get a chance to sleep, for once.)So maybe when Will Solace had grabbed his shoulder and gritted out, "Youpromisedme, Death Boy," like fighting him on it would be useless, Nico gave in almost immediately.It seemed like a good idea at the time.(or; Nico and Will get to know each other the summer after the war. Spoiler alert: they fall in love.)
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 49
Kudos: 273





	1. Chapter 1

It took an embarrassingly short amount of time for Will Solace to grapple Nico into the infirmary. In his defense, he _was_ weak, injured, and dissolving into the shadows. Still, he had just fought in a war - he should've been able to hold out for longer than five minutes.

Maybe he was so relieved that it was all finally over that his guard was down. Maybe the lack of sleep and food was messing with his head. Maybe the idea of resting in a cot for a few days was more tempting than he would ever admit. (He wouldn't have to talk to anyone, do anything. Ambrosia and nectar would be brought directly to his bedside. There was even a distinct possibility that he could get a chance to sleep, for once.)

So maybe when Will Solace had grabbed his shoulder and gritted out, "You _promised_ me, Death Boy," like fighting him on it would be useless, Nico gave in almost immediately. 

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now, squinting under the light of the three sunlamps directed onto his body, while Will Solace practically shoved food down his throat, Nico was beginning to regret it. Solace pressed another spoon loaded with split pea soup against Nico's mouth. Nico pressed his lips together so not a drop would pass through. Solace made a face at him.

"I'm full," Nico informed him.

"Is that so?" Solace responded, not sounding like he particularly cared.

"If you feed me anymore, I'll be sick." Nico insisted. "And then I'll throw up all over you, and you won't be allowed to get mad at me because technically it'll be yourfault."

Unexpectedly, Solace grinned. Nico's stomach flopped nervously. Since he's woken up, he'd been actively trying to register every reaction Solace had thrown in his direction in an attempt to figure him out. Whether or not smiling was a good sign was still up in the air. Solace was infuriating like that - simultaneously over-expressive and hard to read. He dropped the spoon onto the tray. "Ok, chill with the vomit threats. Forgive me if I'm a bit overzealous after you informed me that you hadn't eaten in _four days_." 

To Nico's credit, his time in the infirmary started great. As in, he passed out on the way there and woke up two days later, feeling remarkably refreshed. It only began to decline the second Solace pushed him back onto the cot, claiming that he was still nowhere near recovered and had to stay there for one more day, at least. Nico was going to argue, but Will finished his lecture with a pointed, "Plus, you _promised._ " And, well, Nico wasn't one to go back on his promises.

Solace pushed the soup to the side and started fiddling with the sunlamps. Just watching him was making Nico anxious. Scratch that, _all_ of this was making him anxious. The bright lights, the sound of sick people in the cots around him, the nervous glances that the other children of Apollo threw to him whenever they hurried by.

The more awake Nico felt the more he couldn't believe he'd ever thought this was a good idea. He shouldn't be here. Under the bright light of a sunlamp, it seemed glaringly obvious. A child of death in an infirmary. It was a miracle he hadn't been kicked out yet. 

He looked at Solace, who was now flipping through the chart of his medical history. Nico searched for the appropriate term to file that under. _Nervous_ , possibly. _Restless,_ definitely. It reminded him of when Leo would start messing with stuff just because he had too much energy and didn't know what to do with his hands. Sometimes, when Nico had a particularly bad nightmare, he'd go down to the engine room in the middle of the night to find Leo wide-awake and fiddling with something that was working perfectly fine. Nico found it supremely irritating - but he couldn't deny that the sounds of machinery working, Leo's constant commentary, and his fidgeting hands were effective distractions from whatever was going on in Nico's head.

He found himself going down to the engine room more and more often.

Leo. Nico felt a pang of guilt. He hadn't had the chance to think about him yet. Now that he was, it was almost overpowering. According to Chiron, Leo was presumed dead. They'd even burned a shroud for him, a few days ago. Fiery red, decorated with ornate golden dragons. 

Still, Nico was good at listening to rumors - and the general consensus was because they never found a body, there was no evidence that Leo was actually gone. Nico wasn't convinced. It seemed more likely that everyone was deluding themselves because the reality of what happened was too horrific to face. 

Now, remembering Leo's effervescent energy, his mischievous grin, his fiddling hands, always searching to improve, evolve, make something better - an idea was bubbling up in Nico's head. A potentially dangerous one.

He was suddenly overtaken by the urge to repress it, go back to sleep, and deal with it all when he was nice and ready, preferably after a few more days of napping. If only this were the type of world that let you prepare yourself for whatever bullshit it was going to throw at you. 

"I'm gonna have to ask you a couple of questions." Will was saying, drawing Nico out of his thoughts. "Because obviously some of the information here was made up. Born on January 28th, 1932? Really?" He waves the clipboard in the air. "Which one of my siblings was stupid enough to believe you?"

"They believed me because it's true," Nico says. "That's when I was born."

"You're messing with you."

"I'm not. Long story."

"You were born in a _different century_?"

"Solace," Nico said. Will's head shot up suddenly. "Can you get over it already? I need your help with something. Come here."

Solace had the nerve to laugh, as if the thought of Nico demanding him to do anything was funny, and bounded over to his side. "Fine. Who am I to ignore the whims of my elders?"

Nico elected to ignore the whole _elder_ thing. He focused, instead, on how this smile was different from the other. In this one, Will's eyes crinkled up, his cheeks were all squished, and his eyes sparkled, more than usual.

Internally, Nico marked down that expression as _playful_ and _cooperative_ and _really, really cute_ \- 

_Focus_. 

"Two things," Nico said. "First, I need to check if someone's in the Underworld. That means in a second, I'm going to use my powers." Solace opened his mouth as if to argue, but Nico cut him off. "Solace, I need you _not_ to fight me on this. I'm gonna do it whether or not you approve, so you might as well give up now." Nico hesitated for a moment. "It's important."

"Okay," Solace replied, more easy-going than Nico had anticipated. "What's the second thing?"

"You're my doctor, aren't you?" Nico demands. "If something goes wrong and I pass out, make sure I don't get hurt."

"Thought you couldn’t get hurt," Solace grinned, and gods, Nico couldn't mark that one down as anything other than _mischievous_ , definitely a bad thing, to be avoided at all costs.

"I can't. But _some people_ would love to see me stuck here for another century, so I'm doing everything in my power to prevent that from happening."

"Alright, fine, I get it. But you're explaining the whole age thing to me later."

Nico rolls his eyes. Will watches him expectantly. He feels nervous - and then he gets angry at himself for being nervous. He's done so much more with powers than this. He just shadow-traveled with one of the most powerful monuments on the planet _multiple_ times across the country. On any other day, sensing where Leo was would have been as natural as breathing. But Solace has been jabbering in his ear for days about how weak he was, how he had to take it easy, how close he was to becoming a puddle of darkness or whatever. Nico decided that just this one time, it might serve him well to be a little cautious.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. 

Nothing - and then a flicker. A flicker of _something_. Not quite Leo, not quite not. It grew brighter until Nico was _sure_ that Leo was there, in the Underworld - and then it disappeared. Frustrated, Nico opened his eyes with a sigh.

The first thing he noticed was Solace, looking at him intently from way inside his personal space bubble. Nico let out an undignified squeak, quickly recovered, and glowered at him darkly. "Back off."

Instead of getting out of his personal space, Solace just sighs,"Is that any way to talk to the person who spent the last two and a half days healing you? I've been on my feet, at your beck and call, and instead of saying, oh, I don't know, _thank you_ , you choose instead to boss me around?" He looks to Dana, his younger sister, who was keeping watch over a demigod with a broken leg. "Can you believe the nerve of some patients?"

"They're getting ruder every day," she replies, not even looking at them.

"Thought I was your elder." Nico grumbled. "Thought you were supposed to treat me with _respect_."

"Don't say it like that. It's weird when _you_ talk about it."

"Hey, grandpa." Dana calls. "You've got a visitor."

And with all the subtlety of an oversized golden retriever, Jason Grace walked into the room. "Dude!' He exclaimed happily. "You're awake!"

"And _you've_ been spending too much time with Percy." Nico humphed. He let Jason ruffle his hair and shook him off right as he started to grab his shoulder and wiggle him a bit. If there's one thing that Nico's learned in the past couple of weeks, it's that Jason was an affectionate guy. It's just that most of the time, he didn't know precisely _how_ to show it. This often resulted in a lot of panicked, half-aborted displays of affection. If it were anyone else, Nico would've gotten sick of it a long while ago. But the fact that Jason seemed just as bewildered in giving as affection as Nico was in receiving it made the whole ordeal a lot more bearable. So instead of feeling his skin crawl the second Jason's hand comes into contact, Nico could just look at him in mild amusement as Jason performs his whole _checking-Nico-is-okay_ pat-down.

"Grace." Solace says, sounding cheerful. He immediately stands up and shakes Jason's hand. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I'm just checking in. I heard you were in a sorry state." 

"I was _fine_ -"

"Ignore him," Will tells Jason, who raises an eyebrow. "He likes to lie and pretend he doesn't feel any pain. Would you believe me if I told you that for the first twenty-four hours of his stay, he was practically see-through?"

"I wasn't-" Nico protests, and then stops to think. "Was I?"

Will humphs loudly. "Typical. Can't even tell what's going on with his own body but thinks he can boss an experienced healer around. You're lucky I'm so patient, di Angelo."

"That's not the word I'd use."

Jason watches the whole interaction with badly-concealed curiosity. "Seems like you're in good hands."

"Hardly."

"Watch it." Will reprimands, but whatever lecture he was planning on going on was cut off when another healer that Nico didn't recognize grabbed his arm and whispered something urgently in his ear. Will listens intently for one moment. "I'm afraid I've got something to deal with."

"What is it?"

"Urgent, potentially deadly, definitely gross." Will cracks his knuckles. The guy tugs his arm again like he's trying to hurry him. "Nothing new. Piece of cake."

"Sure it is," Jason says, smiling.

"Make sure _he_ doesn't disappear while I'm gone," Will says and promptly lets himself get dragged away in a whirlwind of clipboards and surgical gloves and blonde curls.

"He seems nice!" Jason says brightly.

Nico pleads, "Get me out of here."

Jason laughs, which was not helpful in the slightest, and helps himself to the chair by Nico's bedside. After enduring the mini-hurricane that was Will Solace in the infirmary for a few hours, it was nice to be left alone with Jason. He'd even brought along with some stuff from Nico's cabin - a spare black shirt, his aviator jacket, some of his rings. A few demigods shot them curious looks from their cots, but Jason barely paid attention to them as he filled Nico in on what he'd missed out on the past few days. 

Most of the Romans were thinking of heading home soon - Hazel, Frank, Reyna, a few others. Hazel was supposed to come with Jason to see him, but she got caught up in some job helping rebuild some of the damaged camp buildings. The others had promised to stop by as soon as they could. Nico listened to all of it with vague interest and a question burning inside his chest that he wasn't quite brave enough to ask. 

It turns out he didn't have to. 

"Percy and Annabeth still don't know what they're going to do."

"Oh, no?" Nico says, trying to sound disinterested. Judging by Jason's look, he didn't pull it off very well.

"I'm a little worried about them," Jason confesses. "They both seem...I don't know, distant. They talk to each other and maybe to Chiron, but it's almost like they've closed themselves off to everyone else."

Nico wasn't surprised. It was probably Tartarus catching up to them. You always think you're okay when you get out of situations like that. Mostly because you have to be - you can't afford to have a breakdown in the middle of a war. But trauma is insidious - it waits until you finally get to catch your breath to knock you on your feet. It happened to Nico when he was on the Argo. He tried to hide it from the others - restrain the crying and anger and panic attacks to those precious moments where he was alone. He couldn't afford to look weak in front of them, especially when they went through all that trouble to save him. But it didn't always work. If it managed to leak out one for Nico, it definitely would with Percy and Annabeth.

 _They have each other,_ a voice in the back of Nico's head whispers. _You have no one_.

 _Had no-one_ , Nico corrects himself, looking at the worried crinkle in Jason's brow, thinking of all the demigods he had accidentally wrangled into caring about his well-being.

He doesn't tell any of this to Jason. There wasn't any point. Instead, Nico just asks, "They're staying in camp, though, right?"

"As far as I know, they both want to go back and finish high school."

Nico could barely keep his jaw from dropping. "You're joking."

Jason leans back in his chair. "Nope. They need a diploma if they want to go to university in new Rome."

"You honestly think the two of them going back to the mortal world is a good idea?" Nico asks in disbelief.

Jason hums non-committedly. The conversation lapses into a solemn silence as Nico watches Jason mull things over from afar. 

It was funny how good Nico had gotten at reading Jason's facial expressions. He could practically see him run through a million different scenarios, trying to find the one where they all end up happy and safe. To be fair, Nico isn't much better. He knows that he shouldn't care as much as he does. Nico tries to remind himself of that every waking second. But for some reason, he can't get his mind to stop imagining all the different ways Percy returning to high school could end in disaster. 

A particularly gruesome thought of fire and explosions triggers Nico to sit up. "Jason. Just now - before you came in - I tried looking for Leo."

Jason's head pops up. "What?"

"I know - people think he's dead. But I just wanted to make sure. And if he was, I thought I could go down to the Underworld and check in on him, see what he decides to do."

"And?"

"And nothing. I mean, normally it's easy for me. Whenever people die, I know they're dead. But he's not. Or maybe he was. It's all blurry."

"But there's a chance? That he survived the explosion?"

Jason looked so hopeful that Nico almost regretted bringing it up. The odds are Leo was still most probably dead - maybe he just died in a way that made it harder for Nico to detect, or he got stuck in some in-between place that Nico wasn't aware of. He didn't want Jason to get all excited only to realize that it was for nothing. Maybe it would be better for Jason if Nico just lied to him now, and let Leo's return be some sort of happy surprise if it happened at all.

But Jason wasn't asking if Leo was alive; he was asking if there was a chance he survived. And Nico knew the answer to that question. If Jason ever found out that Nico didn't tell him the truth, the tentative understanding they had would immediately dissolve. So he answers, "Yes."

Jason took that like a punch to the stomach. He immediately leans over to rest his head in his hands. Nico watches him in terse silence for a few seconds. When Jason sits up again, it was as if he was a different person. Roman praetor Jason Grace had replaced friendly, awkward Jason. In a voice that was entirely too even for someone who found out his best friend might still be alive, he says, "We'll have to find him, then."

"How?"

"I don't have a clue." Jason's expression was grim. "Will you help me?"

"I - you -" Nico struggled with words. "You want my help?"

"If there's any chance he can be found, it can only be done if you're searching with me," Jason says, ever so logical. He doesn't say it out loud, but Nico picks up what he implies. _I trust you_. 

Nico wonders what he ever did to earn that trust. He was also beginning to understand what it meant to be someone's friend. So he concedes, "Okay."

"We have to tell the others.

"No, we don't." Nico immediately refutes. "I'm telling you this now, Jason Grace, for your own good. The chances that he's alive in a way where he can come back to us are slim. We don't need to get people's hopes up. It'll just make it harder on us in the future."

He doesn't mean for it to be harsh, but it is. Nico can see it in the way Jason avoids his eyes as he promised, "Only Chiron and Piper for now." 

"Until we get more information," Nico attempts to amend.

"Until we get more information." Jason agrees. "Come on."

Nico suddenly couldn't find it in himself to get up. When Jason shoots him a questioning look, he blurts out, "I promised Will three days."

"This is day three. And it's an emergency. I’m sure he'll understand." 

Nico sits on that for a moment. Technically, he knows that Jason is right. Besides, Will can't force him to stay here if Nico feels fine. Still, the all-too-familiar bitter feeling of guilt rises in Nico's throat. Reluctantly, he agrees, "Okay. I need to get changed and stuff. I'll meet you at the Big House." 

"See you then."

Nico wriggles out of bed. Luckily, other than the odd twinge of an old bruise, he feels pretty much back to normal. He spots Dana watching him with raised eyebrows. Nico prays that she won't cause any trouble for him and asks, "Do you have a bathroom?"

It was a relief to change back into his old clothes. Shrugging on the old aviator jacket was the most normal Nico had felt in a while. A long while. He turns on the water from the sink and tests it with his hands. It's ice-cold. He splashes some on his face, hoping it'll cancel out the vague dizzy feeling clouding his sense. When he looks up, he accidentally catches a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror.

Nico usually avoids mirrors. He doesn't like facing his own pale, surly face. He doesn't like what he sees; dark circles under darker eyes, sunken cheeks, tangled hair. Most of the time, he looks like a person that you would cross the street to avoid. There was a time in his life where Nico tried to figure out how he felt about it. He would tug his hair and wonder if Percy saw anything when he looked at him beyond a frazzled, broken kid. In the end, Nico concluded that looking this way wasn't good or bad as much as it was convenient. He didn't like people very much, so if it helped them stay away, he didn't mind. He avoids mirrors and avoids thinking about it.

This time, once he catches sight of his reflection, Nico can't look away. He doesn't look as bad as usual. Well, he doesn't look half-dead. His face looks fuller, and there's some color in his cheeks. His under-eyes have faded away from dark crescents to faint, light purple splotches. He looks so healthy, Nico almost doesn't recognize himself. 

When he slips out of the bathroom, he immediately runs into Will, who was waiting on the other side.

"Going somewhere?" Will asks. Nico registers the twitch in his eyebrow, the hard set of his mouth, marks it down as _annoyed_.

Nico's escape has suddenly become infinitely more complicated.

Nico looks over Will's shoulder to see Dana conspicuously acting busy. _Typical_. Nico looks back at Will's accusatory face and rolls his eyes. "Come on," he mutters, grabbing Will's arm and leading him out of the infirmary.

Once they're outside, Nico releases Will's arm and hastily explains, "I need to go."

"I figured," Will says, giving Nico's clothes a long once-over. "Well, congratulations! You've escaped! I'm surprised you didn't try to sneak out the bathroom window."

"Solace," Nico grits out, "The only reason I'm talking to you right now is to explain that I _would_ stay. Usually, I'm not the type of guy who breaks promises-"

"Unless they interfere with important demigod business," Will finishes. He raises his hands in defense at Nico's furious expression. "Relax. Dana told me she overheard Jason telling you to go. I get it. I officially release you from your promise."

"Okay," Nico says suspiciously. "So, I'm not gonna get cursed a few days from now?"

"There's no ill-will in my heart," Will sighs dramatically. "You're good. Just stop by every once in a while, okay? Your presence was good for the patients."

"Really?" Nico asks, doubtful.

Will shrugs. "Sure. The presence of death in a room could make anyone want to get better."

Nico couldn't figure out if Will was joking or not, so he just says, "Okay. I will."

Before he can turn to leave, Will asks, "Did you find Leo?"

Startled, Nico gapes at him for a second. Either Will was more perceptive that Nico had bargained for, or Nico was getting pretty easy to read. "How did - how did you know?"

Will rolls his eyes. "There's only so many people you'd be looking for, di Angelo. And only one of them is currently missing. So, did you find him?"

"It's complicated."

Will heaves a sigh. "Isn't it always?"

Nico couldn't figure out how to reply to that, so he just shrugs. Figuring that's the end of it, Nico turns to walk to the Big House. He only makes it a few steps before Will calls out, "Hey, Death-Breath." Will tossed a bottle of ambrosia gummies in Nico's direction. Nico just barely caught it, and thanks Zeus for that. If Will saw him fumble an easy catch like that, he might make Nico stay in the infirmary for another month. "Take half a gummy every day for the next week, and then you should be good. And no shadow-traveling for at least a month! Or skeleton-raising or spirit conjuring! You know what? Just be a good demigod and don't use your powers for a long while, okay?"

Nico's mouth twitched, already turning away. "Sure."

"You promise?"

Nico stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he turned back around to face Will, who had an unfairly smug expression on his face. "No fair."

"Don't pout at me, I'm just taking necessary precautionary measures!" Solace insists. "You are a man of your word, aren't you?"

Nico grits his teeth. "I _promise_ I will do my best to make smart choices." 

Will hummed and stuck his hands on his hips, evaluating Nico's expression with a shrewd eye. "I'm not sure I believe you."

"I'll guess you'll just have to keep an eye on me," Nico says without thinking. It was a stupid thing to say, but Nico stops regretting it the second he notices the way Will's cheeks turn pink. Nico can barely repress a smirk. That was new for someone so usually confident—something to mark down as _embarrassed._

"I guess I will," Will responds, sounding perfectly composed.

"See you, Solace," Nico says, in the most casual way he can muster, and turns around to walk away.

* * * 

The plan to find Leo stagnates pretty quickly. As soon as they told Chiron what they knew, Nico realized that all his big revelation had done was confirm what they already suspected - Leo wasn't quite alive or dead, just somewhere in between. Chiron promised he'd do some investigating, but he encouraged them not to worry about it. This, according to him, was their time to rest and recuperate. They'd done all they could. Leo's fate was something to leave to the gods.

But Nico didn't particularly trust the gods. He exchanged a look with Jason the second that Chiron was out of sight and knew that he was thinking the same thing. Jason says, "So, we're gonna find him, right?" 

Nico agrees in a heartbeat.

He'd spent the past five years of his life narrowly avoiding certain death. 'Rest' and 'recuperation' weren't really in his vocabulary. Sticking around in one place was already giving him enough restless energy - if he wanted to stay sane, he needed a problem to chew on.

And this was a problem. Nico wanted to go down to the Underworld to interrogate his father, but the idea was shot down pretty quickly. 

"Later," Jason promised him, "When we're sure you can handle it."

 _I can handle it!_ Nico wanted to spit, but Jason was right. He got drained far more quickly than he used to doing even the most trivial tasks. Something about his journey across the country (and through Tartarus) has sucked something out from deep inside his core. There was no telling how long it'd be before he'd back at full-strength. All Nico could do, according to Chiron and the astute medical advice given by Solace, was mull over old legends about the places between life and death and wait. 

So when Nico wakes up in the morning, the first thing he thinks of is Leo. Then he goes to breakfast and spends a good chunk of his morning thinking some more about Leo while he grasps at straws with Jason. In the afternoons, he takes advantage of his free time sulking around camp, watching everyone else repair the damage done by the war, worrying about how Percy and Annabeth will fare when they go back to school. Once the moon rises, he secretly tests his powers. Hyper-aware of his promise to Will, Nico attempts not to overexert himself. Still, even when he does put in a little more effort than what might be medically recommended, he can't sense anything other than a muddled mess of life and death. Then, Nico gets so frustrated he feels sick and falls into a fitful sleep. At night, he dreams of Tartarus. 

It's not the worst state he's ever been in. All things considered, Nico thinks he's doing pretty good. 

* * *

Hazel slams her shield up a second too early. Nico's knife bounces off of it violently, causing sparks to fly and his wrist to twinge. He suppresses a flinch, but Hazel frowns anyway. She hesitates like she wants to ask if he's okay. Nico goes in for another attack.

She's worried about him. Everyone is. Nico can feel their concern pressing onto him like a weighted blanket that's a few pounds too heavy to be comforting. He sees it in the way Chiron gently tries to guide him into participating in more camp activities - in how Jason slides him water when he thinks Nico's not looking - how Hazel drags him to do anything with her the second she has free time.

Hazel twists her sword in a tricky move she must've just picked up from Percy. Nico darts to the side, wonders how hard he's going to have hit her hand to get her to drop it. The idea of it leaves a bad taste in his mouth, even though he knows that's the whole reason they're doing this.

"Stop avoiding me," Hazel puffs. "We're supposed to be practicing offense."

"The most important part of any offense _is_ avoiding _,_ " Nico argues. He feints to the left but goes right. He twists his knife, so it barely grazes her skin. At the same time, Hazel jerks to avoid it. 

"Maybe for monsters," Hazel says. "Not for people."

Since when was Hazel worried about fighting other _demigods_? She didn't have issues with anyone else, as far as Nico knew. The Greeks and Romans were mending their relationship, and it was unlikely they'd get into another war in their lifetime. As far as Nico is concerned, Hazel shouldn't have to fight another demigod for the rest of her life. 

Still, he supposes, there's nothing wrong with being prepared. 

"We've got an audience," Hazel mutters.

Nico glances over his shoulder for a second and catches a glimpse of shiny, blonde curls. The expression on his face must be something because Hazel laughs as she brings her shield up for a second time.

Yeah, maybe Nico tries a little harder after seeing Solace approach. Maybe he puts a bit more power behind his knife, tries a fancy move where he'd usually just do whatever works. Hazel catches onto it too quickly, and she somehow finds a way to smile even though they're both working up a sweat. Nico doesn't like what thoughts could be lurking behind her grin, so he elbows her in the gut hard and knocks the sword out of her hand. Hazel puts her hands up in defeat, leaning down to catch her breath. 

"Are you okay?" Nico asks, crouching down with her, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "I didn't mean to-"

"No worries." Hazel waves her hand like it's nothing. Her eyes are still twinkling dangerously. "How else am I gonna learn?"

Before Nico could reply, he hears Will call out, "Hey guys!"

"Hey, Will!" Hazel gets to her feet. Nico follows suit, keeping a careful eye on how she's standing.

"That was some fight." Will chirps. He's looking cheerful today. Nico ran his eyes over his blonde curls (only slightly mussed), his camp shirt (no blood-stains on it yet), his freckled arms (glove-free). He hadn't been to the infirmary yet today, probably. Maybe Nico was ranking higher on the list of priorities.

_As if._

"Is it my turn yet?"

"I'm not sparring with you." Nico says immediately.

Will pouts. "Aw, why not? It'd be fun! You'd go easy on me, right?"

Nico's mind immediately produces the image of sparring with Will Solace. How close they'd get when one of them would go in for a blow, how they'd have to look each other right in the eye, how Will would grin when Nico inevitably let him win, maybe even hold Nico's arm to steady himself.

"Absolutely not." Nico says firmly.

"He doesn't even go easy on me, Solace." Hazel adds, nudging Nico's side. "I'm not sure you'd be an exception." Except she's grinning at Nico like _he totally is, isn't he?_

Nico's face burns.

"Fine. I'm useless at fighting anyway." Will decides. "Come on, di Angelo. You're coming on a walk with me."

Nico scrutinizes Will's expression, finds nothing but dubious innocence. "What is this, a checkup?"

"Sure," Will smiles. "Call it that."

Hazel nudges him again. "Go on. I need a break anyway."

Nico wants to decline purely out of spite. But Will hasn't exactly been believing Nico's claims that he's been getting stronger, and this might be a good opportunity to prove it. So he grumbles, "Fine," and follows Will out of the swordplay arena.

As they walk, Nico tries to make his breathing as even as possible. A brief spar with Hazel would've been easy a few months ago - now, it felt like he ran a marathon. Will eyes Nico's knife as he wipes it against his shirt. "Stygian iron," Nico explains before Will can ask.

"I know." Will replies. "I remember when I saw it for the first time. Battle of Manhattan."

Nico sheathes the knife onto the strap attached to his belt buckle. "Oh."

"What, you don't remember?"

"I remember!" Nico says hastily. "I guess I don't remember you, like, _in_ the battle that much."

"Well, like I said," Will sighs. "I'm useless at fighting."

It was weird to think that Will was there. That he'd seen who Nico was back then - a fourteen-year-old violently bursting at the seams. He'd been miserable, Nico recalled. That's pretty much all Nico can remember from that time, before the new prophecy. Just misery, and suffering, and Percy Jackson. _Am I any better now_? Nico wonders. It's not like his life is that different. He was just a little older - had picked up a couple more friends - actually slept in the same bed every night. The thing is, you don't realize how much better you've gotten until you remember how bad you used to be. It's a realization accompanied by a sharp sting of surprise - Nico had been through some much worse shit since then, but it's like everything he used to feel had the intensity turned down a couple of notches. It almost feels like he's lying to himself when he thinks, _I don't think I could ever feel that way again._

_Does anybody else know that? Can they see how much I've changed?_

"So," Will asks, apparently fed-up with the silence they'd been walking in for the past few minutes. "How are you feeling? Like, powers-wise."

They were entering the forest now. Nico had no clue why Will had brought him somewhere so secluded at this time of day, but considering he seriously doubted Will's ability to murder him, he let it slide. "I thought I'm not supposed to be using my powers."

"Not supposed to be _overextending_ yourself, yes," Will conceded. "But I doubt you're following my directions, so you might as well tell me what you've been able to do."

Nico snorted. "Is that why you're here? To catch me on not keeping a promise?"

"I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on you, aren't I?"

Nico remembers how Will had blushed when Nico said that. He barely represses the way his mouth curls up. He lets his hands drift to his side, flexing one of them as he thinks of something to try. The truth is, Nico had been too nervous to do anything other than summon a bone or two since he left the infirmary. Typically, he was the type of guy to push it - see how far he could test the limits before hitting rock bottom. But it was as if there's this wall in his head that wasn't there before. Like there was a newly-formed part of his brain that was scared of getting hurt. His hands clenched into tight fists. Will's eyes brushed over them, but he didn't say a word. 

_This is the perfect time to prove to him you're fine._

_What if I'm not, though?_

_Shut up. Get a hold of yourself._

_Remember that time Percy drowned? The son of the sea god drowned?_

_Stop it, stop it, stop it._

_Do you think it's possible to drown in a shadow?_

_Just fucking do it, prove it, do it-_

Nico stops in his tracks and crouches to the ground. He lets all his resentment and fear and anger boil in his stomach until it threatens to burst. Then, he waves his hand over the dirt as nonchalantly as he can manage—something tugs deep in his gut. From the soil, the delicate bones of a rabbit emerged and knit together. The rabbit bounces around, momentarily befuddled by its new-found life. Then, it twitches its ears and nudges its way under Nico's hand. Nico let his hand drift up and down the skeleton, feeling the fierce bite of triumph. 

He looks up to Will as if to say, _I told you so_. Will stands there with his jaw hanging open. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," Nico replies. He nudges the rabbit, curious to see how Will would react. It hops over to him, approaching cautiously.

Will stares at it like he'd never seen a skeleton rabbit before - which, to be fair, he probably hadn't. "That is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my whole life."

Nico wrinkled his nose. " _Cute_?"

"This is so extra of you. A _bunny_? Oh my gods, no one's ever gonna believe me."

"Next time I'll summon a bear, we'll see how adorable you think that is."

"You like animals, don't you?" Will says like it's not even a question. He reaches out a tentative finger. The rabbit presses its skull against it. Will's finger accidentally slips into the cavity where its eye should be, and he shudders, pulling his hand back immediately. "That's cute."

Nico stares at him, dumbfounded. A part of him desperately wants to steer the conversation back to his powers, and how he's probably fine now. Instead, he says, "Have you met Ms. O' Leary?"

Will grins. 

He starts seeing a lot more of Will after that. It's a little unnerving, only because Nico still doesn't have a clue what Will wants from him. He just shows up wherever Nico happens to be, insists that they do something until Nico gives in, and then talks about nothing with him for a few hours. Nico used to think it was for medical reasons - any doctor checks up on their patient, right? - but Will stops asking medical questions the second that Nico starts to get annoyed. 

Nico keeps expecting him to ask for something. He's not sure what exactly. Perhaps Will wants him to do experiments on the effect of shadow-travel on the body, or to use his powers to find out if any patients are close to death, or to get close to one of the other prophecy demigods. But Will never asks for anything other than Nico's time.

It's fine. At the very least, Hazel seemed thrilled with this development. She'd pulled him aside just before she left for Rome and said something that didn't mean to sound condescending; _it's so nice to see you make friends!_

Everyone's attention came onto him whenever Will approached, and their eyebrows would rise when Will dragged him away. Nico couldn't help but catalog their reactions in a neat little list, organized by how much he stayed up late at night thinking about them. He caught Chiron smiling at them every once in a while. Percy, who seemed to be disappearing into his own world more and more lately, didn't give off any signs that he even noticed. Annabeth and Piper, at least, had some tact, so even if they were surprised, they didn't show it. Jason watched Will with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. Will's siblings openly stared. Regardless of their reactions, no one seemed to be against Will hanging out with Nico. In fact, it was like this was easing some of their concern. Maybe they were getting their hopes up, thinking that Nico was getting all adjusted or something. 

As if he wasn't getting barely four hours of sleep at night. As if he didn't still get panic attacks at the drop of a hat. As if he could stomach most of the food thrust upon him, and as if he didn't still feel like a stranger in a place that was supposed to be his home. As if Will was supposed to have the cure to the ailment that was Nico's miserable, little life. 

The truth was, Nico was no more well-adjusted than he was a week ago. He just puts up with Will because he's distracting. He was insufferable, sure. But that just means that instead of worrying about where Leo is, or what Percy was supposed to do now that he's going back to high school, or why Hazel wants to learn more about fighting, Nico just gets angry about Will's opinions on shit that doesn't matter. It's like when Will's around, he takes up so much mental space that Nico barely has any leftover for anything else. He's too busy arguing why tomatoes are _not_ a fruit, actually, and why Will's an idiot for believing that. 

Besides, if he had to socialize with someone from camp to prove that he was 'getting better,’ Will Solace wasn't the worst choice. He could be funny, he respected Nico's boundaries (the important ones, anyway), and he occasionally had interesting things to say. 

The only problem was - a problem Nico would never admit out loud - Will Solace was also attractive. The more time they spent together, the more Nico's eyes kept drifting to where they shouldn't - the curve of his lips or the nape of his neck. Eventually, he was going to get caught. He suspected that Jason was already catching on, judging by the way that he conspicuously asked about Will every time they sat down together to research what pocket of reality Leo might have gotten lost in.

Luckily, Nico could trust that eventually, Will would say something so insufferable Nico would want to kill him, any dangerous urges would be successfully repressed, and Nico could go on acting like he wasn't a huge inconvenience for everyone around him.

You'd think that after a week of this, Nico would learn to expect to see Will wherever he goes - all the way up to and including camp activities. 

Instead, Nico is continuously surprised.

Chiron had set a challenge for tonight. They'd gotten a fresh import of boxed up monsters that were just set loose in the forest. The demigods were supposed to partner up, and in teams of two, track down and kill as many as possible in the time-frame Chiron had set up. 

Jason and Nico were by the lava-wall, poring over some old books on the afterlife when Chiron announced it. "Partner with me?" Nico asked, sounding pathetic. 

"You got it, buddy." Jason claps a hand on his shoulder. "We'll make quick work of it."

Nico should've known it was too good to be true. He should've suspected that the moment he was strapping on armor in the crowd of demigods just outside of the forest, he would be ambushed.

"You're in luck, di Angelo!" Will Solace crows, appearing out of nowhere just to drape himself across Nico's shoulders. Nico sees Jason raise an eyebrow at them and quickly shakes Will off. "I'm free! Wanna partner up?"

Nico shoots him a flat look. "Why would I want to do that?"

Will pouts. "I'm useful."

"Are you?"

"You're acting like having a healer as your partner in a game where it's _very_ probable you'll get injured is useless."

"That's because it kind of is," Nico shoots back. Some of Will's siblings, who were standing in a group nearby, laughed loudly at that. Will turns to glare at them. 

"Well, it's not like _anyone else_ wants to be my partner." Will proclaims loudly. When his siblings continue giggling, he shoots them another hard stare. " _Right?_ " 

Nico tries not to panic. The possibility of spending multiple hours, _alone_ , in a life-threatening situation with Will Solace was becoming harder and harder to avoid. Sure, they'd been spending a fair amount of time together recently - but save for their first walk in the forest, most of it was in public, in front of prying eyes, where he couldn't do anything even if he wanted to. 

Not that he _wanted_ to.

It's just that - in the forest, in the darkness, where it'd be easy to sneak away, maybe push someone up against a tree - it might be a bit difficult to control himself. Nico swallowed hard. "Well, I was kinda planning on partnering with Jason-"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Nico." Jason cuts in quickly, smiling a tad too cheerily for Nico's liking. "Piper said that her partner bailed on her, anyway."

Nico freezes, glaring at Jason as hard as he can. Jason winks.

"So, it's settled." Will proclaims. His trademark mischievous grin comes out. "This is gonna be so fun."

"Yeah," Nico grits out. "So fun." 

Chiron blows the whistle, and Nico sets off, with Will lagging behind him. 

The second they're out of sight from any other demigod, Will plops down on the ground. Nico stares at him. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting."

"For what?"

"Just a few minutes, until Chiron's gone. Then, we can make our escape."

"I'm not following."

Will sighs. "Nico. Do you think I want to roam around killing monsters for the next two hours?"

The more Nico thought of it, the more obvious it became that the answer was no. Still, he insists, "I thought all demigods thought this sort of stuff was fun."

"'No way. Luckily for you, all I inherited from my father is healing abilities and my irresistible charm. This bow is just for show." Will laughs. "Hey, did you hear that? I totally didn't mean to make that rhyme. Guess poetry just flows out of me."

Nico grits his teeth. "If we sit on our asses out here, the monsters will find us anyways,"

"They won't. Besides, we'll get out of here before anything like that can happen." Will hums, tilting his head consideringly. "What do you think about playing a prank on the Hermes' cabin? We still haven't gotten them back for what they did during Capture the Flag."

A little desperate, Nico asks, "Don't you want to play the game?"

"Since when are you so passionate about camp activities?"

"I'm not!"

"Great. Then have some fun with me. Trust me, no one will even notice we're gone."

"We barely know each other, and I'm supposed to trust you?" Nico scoffed. His body thrums with restless energy. Half of him is burning with the urge to see what will happen if he gets Will alone, and the other is terrified. "No, thanks. I'm better off on my own, anyway. Have fun sitting in the dirt."

Nico barely takes two steps before Will is clambering to get up and follow him.

"Nico - wait up," Will says, panting. "Come on, man, when have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?"

He doesn't sound angry or demanding. Maybe a little confused. Unfortunately, that's enough to get Nico's hackles up. 

_Stop it._ He thinks to himself. _Stop throwing tantrums like a child._

"When you fed me pea soup and told me it was essential for my recovery," he replies, trying to play it off like a joke.

Luckily, Will doesn't call him out on it. Instead, he huffs, "Well, I didn't know at the time that you are literally allergic to vegetables. No one older than ten hates soup." He slings his bow and arrow back around his back. "You're ridiculous."

"Thanks," Nico grumbles.

"No - I just mean - you're _ridiculous_." Will continues. "This whole conversation is silly."

"How?" Nico demands.

"I know you trust me. You wouldn't go anywhere alone with me if you didn't." Will's still smiling, but it's nothing more than a sad little thing smeared on the corners of his mouth. _Upset,_ Nico's mind labels. That, and something else Nico can't quite place. "You don't have to make up a reason for not wanting to hang out with me. If you want me to leave you alone, all you have to do is ask."

Nico honestly couldn't follow the track of this conversation for the life of him. He didn't know how they got here, or what Solace expected him to say, or how to make it better. He didn't like the way that Will was looking at him. He didn't like the way that he was talking. Something had changed, and now Nico's heart was beating fast, and all he could think was _how do I get it back to the way it was before?_

All he could come up with was, "I didn't know you were capable of that."

It could barely pass off as a joke, and it wasn't the right thing to say - but, thank gods, Solace didn't seem it to take it badly. "I am if you _ask_ ," he emphasizes. "I know I'm annoying and all clingy, and you're used to hanging around people like Jason, and you only became aware of my existence like a week ago. But I promise I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable. Like, I respect you. And what you want. And who you don't want around." He gestures loosely with hands and smiles his sad little smile that doesn't sit right in Nico's stomach. "Or whatever."

"I want you around," Nico says before he can stop himself.

"Really?" Will asks, like he doesn't believe him.

And - ok, Nico knows he's an asshole, but he didn't think he was such a jerk he could make _Will Solace_ feel insecure. It was unnerving to see him this way - all timid, talking like he was thinking hard before he said anything. And he shouldn't care- except for that Nico is trying to be a better person, and he doesn't want Will to walk around actually thinking he's like this to everyone. So more out of defense of his character than anything else, Nico insists, "I don't think you're annoying." He pauses, and then corrects, "Well, I don't think you're annoying for _those_ reasons."

It was a pathetic response, but it was good enough for Will, who simply snorts and mutters, "Asshole." Without another word, Will sets off into the forest again as if nothing ever happened. As if Nico's weird joke changed anything. Nico follows him, feeling like his mind was a few steps behind, trying to catch up with his body.

"I'm serious, Solace. It's annoying when you do that."

"Do what?"

Nico stares at him blankly as Will continues on his random path, not looking in his direction. He seems like he has no clue what Nico's talking about. Nico stumbles over a pebble and struggles to think of a reason _why_ it bothers him so much. In around fifteen seconds, he reminds himself that he really shouldn't get involved in other people's business, trips over a twig, gets irritated at the confused expression on Will's face, and finally gives in to his incessant urge to explain. "That _thing_. ' _People like Jason._ ' Why do you talk about them like they're so much better than you?"

"Well, you guys are, aren't you?"

"How?"

Now, Will was looking at Nico like he was the crazy one. "Hello? You guys literally saved the world. You were prophesied to end the apocalypse."

"I wasn't," Nico said. "Besides, it's not like we had much choice. You either save the world, or you die. Any demigod would do it if they were forced to."

"No way." Will shakes his head. "I'm not a fighter. This bow is just for show, remember? If I were there, just the pressure of it all would've been enough to put me out of commission."

"That's not true." Nico insists.

Will shrugs. "One thing you'll learn about me, di Angelo," he says, ducking under a branch. "Is that I'm a little bit of a coward."

Nico tugs on his arm and drags him to a halt. "No, you're not."

"I thought that you barely even know me." Will shoots back, annoyingly spot-on with his imitation. Nico hates him; how he can reverse roles without Nico even noticing, how he changes the topic of the conversation so smoothly sometimes Nico doesn't even realize it until minutes later. He was good at not talking about things, Nico noticed. And it seemed like Will had a lot of things that he didn't like talking about.

Luckily, Nico caught the bait Will tossed his way early-on this time and knew not to rise to it. Instead, he grips Will's arm a little more closely and leads him into the forest.

"What are you doing?" Will squeaks. Nico notes with some satisfaction that he sounds a million times less smug.

"We're gonna go find a monster, and _you're_ gonna kill it."

* * *

They don't end up killing any monsters. Nico tracked one down pretty quickly - a gigantic crab, frothing at the mouth - but Will had cowered away, and it was too big to kill on his own. So Nico grabbed Will's arm, they ran out of the forest, breathless, laughing under the night sky. 

The next day, Nico wasn't surprised when Will grabbed him first thing in the morning and lugged him around to help him do his chores. It was getting a little easier to be around him, now that Nico knew what he wanted.

Besides, following Will Solace, under the bright sunshine and fresh breeze, Nico found that he didn't really mind being dragged places. 

"Hey," Nico mused out loud, as Will led the way towards the infirmary. "Have you ever shadow-traveled?"

"Nico di Angelo. You even _think_ about taking me along on one of your little trips and I'll chain back to a cot."

Nico shuddered. "Once was enough." 

"Hey, young man!" Will shook a finger in Nico's direction. "You're lucky that I only sentenced you three days!"

Nico held up his hands weakly in defense. "Don't call me 'young man.’ Technically, I'm older than you, remember?" 

Will groaned. "Don't remind me. I'm trying to repress the information that I've been hanging out with a grandpa as best I can." He shuddered for good measure. Nico cracked a smile. Will doubled-down on the mock-anger, gasping dramatically, "What, is my horror funny to you? You find that _amusing,_ do you?" 

"Kinda, yeah," Nico said, grinning. 

Will opened his mouth, surely to go off on some exaggerated rant, but his gaze caught on something over Nico's shoulder. "Oh. It looks like someone's been stalking you." 

"What?" Nico followed his gaze only to see Percy, leaning against one of the basketball hoops. He was watching them with a weird expression on his face. Once Nico made eye-contact, Percy raised his eyebrows.

Nico's good mood vanished. 

"You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to," Will said, and Nico's mood went from bad to worse.

He shot Will a glare, grumbled, "Whatever," and set off to see Percy. He could already feel his palms getting sweaty, and it was infuriating. It should have been nothing. It should be easy. But he was _nervous_. He shadow-traveled on the regular, had a hellhound as a pet, survived Tartarus, not to mention a million other things that would scare other campers so badly they'd never speak again. And yet, here he was, going to talk to a stupid son of Poseidon, and his stupid heart was pounding like he was about to die (and trust Nico, he would know). 

Percy was just there, sun glinting off his hair and stupid sea-green eyes, looking casual and rugged and handsome, probably not feeling a thing. Nico pushed down a wave of resentment. _He didn't know._ Nico reminded himself. _He's not a bad guy._

Well, he knows now.

And maybe that scared Nico more than anything else.

"Hey," Nico said oh-so-casually, hoping that he didn't sound like he hated himself too much. 

"Hey," Percy said, looking serious. His eyes were still on Will, who was standing with his arms crossed, watching them. "You guys are getting close, huh."

"No, we're not," Nico blurted out too quickly in response. 

Percy looked at him, and Nico felt pretty proud that he didn't cave under the weight of his gaze. "Seemed pretty close."

Nico grit his teeth. "Percy. Are you here to discuss the _absurd_ notion that I might be able to make friends?"

A few months ago, that would've irritated the hell out of Percy. His eyes would get dark, and he would snap back something so obtuse that would make _Nico_ mad, and suddenly they'd be fighting. But this time, it just seemed to shake Percy out of whatever he was thinking about. He scratched the back of his neck and grimaced, "I guess not. I just wanted to let you know that - well, Camp Half-Blood is fun and all, and I really should be staying behind to help everyone recover-"

"But?" Nico interrupted.

"But, I need to go home." Percy confessed, not quite meeting Nico's eyes. "I haven't seen my mom in forever. I have other responsibilities now, I guess." 

_And you can't be around everyone right now,_ Nico guessed. He recognized the cagey look in Percy's eye - after going through so much shit, and seeing so many awful things, being back at camp could feel like a bad fever dream. A little too good to be true. 

"So, you're saying goodbye?" Nico guessed. 

"Yeah. And something else." Percy looked at Nico head-on. "Just...you know that I'm here for you, right? If you ever need anything..."

Nico could only stare at him for a few seconds. The audacity of Percy to offer help when he was clearly struggling, when Nico had been where Percy was and got out of it just fine - it was staggering. Nico tried to keep his voice under control when he says, "I can take care of myself." _In case you've forgotten._

"I _know_ you can take care of yourself, I'm just _saying_. If you're in trouble, or if you're hurt - gods, if you're just hungry and want to get something to eat, I'm there. You can come to me for anything, man."

"So what, if I just show up to your house at 3 am and tell you that I want a burger-"

"I know some pretty good 24-hour diners." Percy finished, grinning. Nico felt it like a punch to the stomach.

He wasn't serious. He couldn't be serious. But Nico wanted badly to believe him. So he let himself say, "Okay, Percy."

Percy didn't respond. He looked back over Nico's shoulder. Nico tried not to worry about the look on his face.

Percy didn't want his help. He probably didn't need it. It was like an unchangeable fact of the universe - the sky is blue, what comes up comes back down, and Percy Jackson will get through whatever he has to get through. 

Nico should let it go. But he can't stop himself from blurting out, "Percy - the nightmares -" 

Percy cuts him off with a sharp look. His expression went from a little distant to suspicious. Before Percy could ask, Nico explained, "Jason let it slip."

"What about them?"

Nico searched for the right words to say, and came up short. All he could think of was, "They'll get better. You'll get better."

"Really?"

Nico shrugs. "No. But you'll survive."

Percy let out a big breath. "And that's all that matters in the end, right?" There was a hard edge to his words, a little too pointed to be anything but sarcastic. The sound of it, a little too familiar to how Nico used to talk, made Nico's stomach flip.

"I guess," Nico replied, unconvinced. 

"I guess." Percy agreed, sounding just as uncertain. "See you around." 

Nico repressed the urge to reach out and get him to stay in the safety of camp for a little bit longer. Percy saluted him and headed off. Nico watched him go, unsure of what he was feeling. It wasn't good - but it wasn't bad either. Percy would be alright. He had to be. There was no point worrying about it. 

He turned around and saw Will, watching. Once they made eye contact, Will plastered on a smile and waved. Nico barely gave him a glance before turning to walk to his cabin.

And that would've been that if it was anyone else.

Not Will Solace.

He bounded up to Nico's side and chirped, "That seemed like a pretty serious conversation."

Nico shot him a dark look. "It wasn't."

Will brushed it off with a shrug and continued, "Get real, Death Boy. You were deep into a mental breakdown from the second you looked at him."

"I was _not_ having a mental breakdown."

"Uh-huh." Will didn't seem convinced. "So, the reason you gave me the cold shoulder and now won't stop glaring at me is that you're perfectly fine?"

For some reason, that was the last straw. Nico had had too many weird conversations with people who cared too much about him today. 

_Why are they all so convinced that I am unable to function unless someone's around to babysit me?_

Nico stopped walking, whirled around, and faced him. "Maybe the reason I'm ignoring you is that I want to be left alone. Stop acting like you know me, Solace. You don't." He stuck a finger towards the direction Percy left and spits, " _He_ doesn't even know me, and I met him when I was eleven."

"So?" Will asked, annoyingly defiant. "What does that have to do with anything?"

For a second, Nico could only look at him. His golden curls were shining in the sun, his bright blue eyes furrowed in an irritated expression Nico was becoming more and more familiar with, his lips pressed in a deep frown. Nico had just yelled at him, and he was still there. He was still looking at Nico like he could see right through him. _Why are you even trying?_ Nico wanted to ask. _What's the point?_ Instead, he demanded, "Why are you so sure you're different from everyone else?" 

"I could ask you the same question," Will replied, quick and smart and far more discerning than Nico had bargained for. 

The memory hits Nico in a flash of images; shaky hands and a bright tropical shirt, the sound of war going on as Will asks Nico to stay. He huffs and looks away. "We've already had this argument."

"Well, consider this round two." Will stuck his hands on his hips. "I don't mind. I like fighting with you." 

Nico felt his cheeks burn, but he refused to break eye contact. "Look, you asked me to stay at Camp Half-Blood, and I have. You asked me to stay in the infirmary for three days, and I did. You asked me not to use my powers unless I need to, and I don't. What else do you want from me?"

"Gods, di Angelo, do you only do things because people ask you to?" Will asked. "Forget that, that's not my point. You told me you wanted me around. Why do you keep acting like you don't?" 

For a second, Nico feels so frustrated that he could scream. It felt impossible that someone who talked like they could read his mind could understand so little about him. But that thought was coupled with a bitter truth. Maybe, the people in Nico's life don't talk to him the way they do because they think they know everything about him. Maybe Nico's so closed-off, all they can do is guess.

"All I want is to be your friend." Will says. "You don't have to make it this hard for me."

"I'm not trying to," Nico blurted. Honesty felt strange on his tongue. He was used to repressing everything, dancing around truths until he can't hold it in anymore longer. Honesty used to explode out of him, leaving a mark on anyone who dared to be near. Saying what he thinks as he thinks it felt uncomfortable, like a new pair of shoes that still needed to be broken in. But he thinks of their argument in the forest - how Will was convinced that Nico hated him. He thinks of how Jason still tip-toes around him like he doesn't know what word will trigger him _._ He remembers that most demigods aren't out to get him, even if their godly parents are. He takes a deep breath and tries again. "I'm not trying to make it hard."

Bright blue eyes meet stormy brown ones, and Nico's truth sits in the air between them for a few seconds.

Will asks, "But it's gonna be hard anyways, isn't it?"

Nico shrugs. "Isn't it always?"

It might be their thing, a Will-Nico thing, to parrot back words the other doesn't even remember saying and throw it back into their face. For a moment, Nico thinks Will might throw his hands up and give up on him. Decide he's not worth the effort and walk away. The image only lasts in his head for a seconds before Will breaks into the cheesiest smile Nico had ever seen, swings an arm around his shoulders, and proclaims, "Well, I've always liked a challenge!"

Nico shoves his arm off, slightly peeved about being called a _challenge_ , but Will still manages to wrangle him into coming to the lake. Nothing was fixed, really. But they both seemed to be willing to let it go this time, and the compromise was a rare enough occurrence that Nico didn't want to think about it any longer.

Nico was doing his best to be a better person, even if it was just in an attempt to become less miserable. But progress wasn't a straight line. It was never as easy as saying something once. It was inevitable - they were going to have this argument again. Maybe they'd have this argument a million times. But it was okay. Will said it himself: he likes fighting with him.

Will pushes Nico's shoulder, and Nico tries not to smile as he thinks it one more time.

_He likes it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! I don't know what possessed me to write this - I guess the news of a live-action tv series made me astral-project back into my 12-yr-old-body, and here I am, writing fanfic again. SOME DISCLAIMERS - I have not read the Trials of Apollo, so it's only canon-compliant up to the end of Blood of Olympus. I've aged up Nico to around 15/16 and Will to around 16/17 only bc I cannot, with good conscience, write a romantic story about a fourteen-yr-old. It's a major slowburn, just bc I think both Will and Nico have a lot of complicated emotions to sort through before they can even start a relationship. And that's about it for now! Hopefully you guys like it - idk how often I'll be uploaded, but I have most of the rest of the story drafted, so it shouldn't take forever, and it will be done eventually!! Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We were just discussing," Dana crows, "about how madly in love Will is with Nico di Angelo."
> 
> "Dude. As if that's breaking news."
> 
> Will winces. "Have I really been that obvious?"
> 
> "Oh buddy," Dana says, patting him on the shoulder. "If he hasn't figured it out by now, I don't think he ever will."

Will Solace jerks awake in the middle of the night with sweaty palms, his skin crawling, his sheets hot where they stick to his skin. He wakes up gasping for air, reaching out with desperate hands, grasping at nothing. Will Solace wakes up, and for a moment that feels like it lasts forever, he's drowning in the dark silence of Cabin 7. 

From below, a tentative voice asks, "Will? Are you okay?"

Will rolls over and tries, with little success, to control his breathing. It's just Will's luck that Andrew, of all people, gets woken up by him in the middle of the night. He's Will's youngest sibling, only twelve years old, and the lightest sleeper in the cabin. Andrew's a nervous little kid who'd spent an undetermined amount of time on his own before one of the satyrs found him. Being a light sleeper was just one of the many protective habits he'd developed - some of which included being able to move around quietly and knowing from one look exactly how long a pile of food could last someone. Will should lower himself down the lower bunk, let Andrew see that he's okay, maybe ruffle his hair for good measure. But he can't tear his eyes away from the ceiling. The remnants of his nightmare - images of gaping wounds, sounds of screaming children - burn at the forefront of his mind. Will manages to whisper, "I'm okay, Andrew. Go to sleep."

He hears Andrew shift around in his bed. It doesn't take long for the cabin to fall silent again. Once he's sure Andrew's asleep, Will carefully slides out from under his sheets and steps outside of Cabin 7. It's golden walls glow in the moonlight. The camp is quiet, save for the occasional call of a harpy. He sits on the front steps and desperately tries to relax.

Normally when demigods get nightmares, they're premonitions for the future. This is especially true for children of Apollo, whose dreams are more vivid and accurate than anyone else's. But, of course, this wasn't the case for Will Solace. For all the healing power he had inherited from his father, he had little else to show. No musical ability - no poetry skills - not even prophetic dreams. His nightmares might be awful, but they were even more useless. All they do is dredge up old shit he'd spent all day trying to repress. Most of the time, they hit too close to home.

They'd almost lost someone this morning.

Mary, a daughter of Ares not that much younger than him, had been put into the infirmary during the war after she'd been struck by a poisonous arrow. Lost in the chaos, the poison had several hours to set in her body before she could be treated. She had been stuck in bed ever since with little to no signs of recovery. 

Will should've noticed that something was wrong.

Truth be told, he was a little distracted this past couple of days. No matter how hard he tried to focus on whatever task was at hand, his mind kept wandering back to - who else? - Nico di Angelo. Well, it sounds bad when you put it like that. Will wasn't _obsessed_ with him or anything - it's just that Nico was hard not to think about. _Especially_ when he was being absurdly stubborn. Will must have insisted more than a hundred times that the more honest Nico is, the faster Will can heal him, and the sooner he can stop bothering him. It was a perfectly reasonable argument and one that Nico refused to listen to. Instead, he keeps on showing off how 'recovered' he is whenever Will is around. It would've worked, if Nico wasn't so oblivious to how much Will is, well, _around_. Again, that sounds creepier than it is. Will just sometimes sees Nico from across the way and doesn't bother announcing his presence. And it's a good thing he does - if not, Will wouldn't have noticed how Nico was avoiding everything he normally liked to do (sword training, shadow-traveling, summoning creepy little animals). From someone so blatantly self-destructive, the fact that Nico was exercising caution was worrying, to say the least.

So he'd been thinking about Nico, and wondering what it would take to convince him to come in for a few more studies, and dealing with some paperwork when he realized that Mary was having a seizure.

He immediately ran to her and did everything he learned to do - placed her on her side, yanked the straw she was using to drink nectar out of her mouth so she wouldn't choke on it, timed the length of the seizure, and immediately put her through a series of tests once she came out of it. Thank Apollo, she was fine. A little tired, but okay.

If it had taken Will a few more seconds…

He couldn't stop thinking about it.

Jessica, one of his younger siblings, had taken him aside and told him to take a break. Will tried to fight back, but she didn't even entertain the argument. All she did was take a good, long look at his hands. They were violently shaking. 

For the rest of the day, he felt like his stomach was dissolving in acid. 

_What would have happened if you didn't look up in time?_

_Austin is older than you. He wouldn't have made that mistake._

_Could she have died?_

The sound of a monster in the distance rang through the camp, shaking Will out of his thoughts. He was fine. No, really! He was. Everything had worked out. Mary recovered, and all her tests came back normal. Will's mistake had cost them nothing. No one had even noticed. 

Will lets out a breath and buries his feet deeper in the grass. He looks into the darkness and idly wonders if Nico was out there, somewhere. Maybe he's in some neck of the wood, digging holes and summoning skeletons. Probably not. He was most likely asleep in his cabin. Was he having nightmares, like Will was? What would he have nightmares about?

As hard as Will tried, he couldn't think of an answer.

When Will heads back into the cabin, Andrew is sitting upright, his young face pale in the moonlight. "You shouldn't go outside after curfew," He says, somber. "The harpies will get you."

Will plasters on the widest smile he can muster. "Are you kidding? The harpies couldn't even touch me if they tried. Just one look at me, and they'll disintegrate on the spot!"

Andrew frowns, more out of annoyance than concern. "That's not possible."

"Anything's possible when you're this good-looking, kiddo." Will starts to climb up to his bunk. "Now go to sleep before I use my powers on _you._ "

Andrew pouts, but he obediently lies down. 

Will stares at the ceiling. 

He doesn't want to close his eyes. He's scared of what he might see when he does.

* * * 

His siblings are walking on egg-shells around him the next morning. Will can't prove it, but somehow he knows that Andrew had let last night's incident slip. Jessica tells Will he can sleep in if he wants to - two of his younger siblings offer him the food off their plate during breakfast. Will sends a significant look to Andrew, who doesn't even have the decency to play dumb.

The second he walks into the infirmary, every healer there whirls to face him, faces grave. Looking at them, you would've thought Will was recovering from a heart attack or something. Ha! Imagine that. They were surrounded by injured demigods but somehow they were worried about _Will._

Well, that wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all. 

"Why're you all staring at me?" Will demands. "I'm not paying you to stand around, am I?"

"You're not paying us at all." Austin sniffs. Will shoots a finger gun at him gratefully. The fact that he was playing along was good; the others would follow his lead pretty soon. Austin was not only a year older than Will, but also taller and more powerful (his archery skills are unmatched, and his skills on the kazoo are breathtaking). Since he only arrived at camp around two years ago, Will technically had superiority. Still, every other camper in the cabin looks up to him. Austin would've made a great head counselor.

"And I never will, if you don't start working soon!" Will replies cheerfully. "I know I'm a genius but you guys have to learn to keep up with me!"

Austin laughs and sets out to check on the patient assigned to him. The others exchange a few looks but continued to do their jobs without so much as a second glance.

Typical. All it took was a couple of well-timed jokes and light threats, and soon the atmosphere in the infirmary was back to its normal, cheerful self. Will feels a twinge of jealousy - _why don't they follow you like they follow him?_ \- but it's balanced out by relief. Tense healers made nervous patients. The less the others worried about insignificant details Will could take care of, the more attention they could give to the people who needed it.

"Do your rounds and don't bother me unless it's an emergency," Will informs Dana, who was unofficially his second-in-command.

"What?" Dana asks, following him as he goes to the office nestled away in the back of the building. When Will doesn't immediately respond, she pressed, "Will. You've been here all week. If you want to go out and do something fun for a bit, I don't mind -"

"Don't worry. There's nowhere else I'd rather be." Before he can fully gauge her reaction, Will closes the door in her face. 

The office in the infirmary was a cluttered one. Weeks old paperwork spills out of every cabinet. The worst of them are stained with coffee rings. It was an immense amount of work that was built off years of neglect. The children of Apollo were hardworking only when it comes to something they're interested in. Give them something boring? It'll never get done. Just one look and Will's hands started to itch. He'd rather painstakingly do a thousand stitches to deal with _that_. He'd rather get back out there, yank the reigns back from Austin and Dana, and get back to doing the only thing he was actually good at. 

But Will was determined not to give in. Hiding out here wasn't ideal, but it felt necessary after yesterday. If Will's stupid distracting problems are a danger to the patients, he should stay away until he learns how to keep them from interfering. 

He cracks his knuckles and dives in. 

It doesn't take long before someone knocks on his door. Will feels a sick twist of satisfaction at the noise - _you guys couldn't even go fifteen minutes without me, huh?_ But he feigns annoyance even as he stands up to open the door. "What?"

Dana looks a little restless when she says, "Come outside for a second."

"I'm busy."

"I've got a surprise for you."

"Can it wait?"

"I don't think keeping him waiting is a good idea." Will hears Austin snort from out of eyeshot.

Will steps out from the doorframe to ask what he's talking about only to find Nico standing there, looking sheepish.

"Hi," Nico says. 

"Um. Hey." Will stutters back. And then, because Will was incapable of going more than thirty seconds without humiliating himself, he says, "Nice hair."

Nico's hand raises to his hair self-consciously. It was effortlessly mussed in a way that other people spend hours trying to replicate. Of course, to Nico, it came naturally. He looked good today - in the sweltering heat, he'd scrapped his jacket for a plain black shirt and dark jeans. Even his skin looked nice, including the little strip on his nose where he'd gotten a sunburn. 

Dana clears her throat and Will remembers to ask, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh. Right." Nico glances at Dana - which is strange, considering the fact that Will had never seen the two of them speak more than two words to each other. "Well, you mentioned that you wanted me to stop by every once in a while, right? It's good for the patients, or whatever."

"Right," Will says, trying to hide the way his nerves twist around with a new feeling of dread. Yesterday, Will had almost lost a patient because he was being distracted by _the thought_ of Nico. Having Nico physically here - Will doesn't know if he can trust himself to handle it. He awkwardly jokes, "You're just saying that because you want to see something gross, don't you?"

Nico cracks a crooked smile. "You caught me."

It's a miracle Will doesn't melt through his scrubs. It should be concerning how easy it was for Will to get flustered around him. But Will always got this affected when he got a crush on someone. And that's all it was - a stupid, little crush. Once Nico got sick of him and shook him off for good, he'd get over it, no problem. Besides, there was a more pressing issue at hand; how to make Nico go away without _telling_ him to go away. "Well, it's slow today. I don't know how gross it's gonna get. Maybe you could help me do some paperwork! That sounds pretty disgusting, right?"

Nico honest-to-gods _pouted_. "Are you serious? That's the best you can offer?"

"Unfortunately there are no grave injuries in here today," Will replies. "The worst you're gonna see is maybe a third-degree burn from the lava wall."

At that, Nico perks up. "Burns are cool."

For a second, Will gets an intense flashback at the glimpses of Nico he'd seen when he met him for the first time - a moody kid who liked to ask questions and liked guessing the answers to them even better. It was kind of adorable. 

"Did you hear that?" Austin mutters to Dana, just loudly enough to be completely audible. "I would've thought he was more a laceration kind of guy."

" _Laceration_ kind of guy?" Nico repeats. He doesn't sound impressed, which is kind of hypocritical considering how excited he was about burns a few seconds ago. Will tugs Nico's shirt and shakes his head, silently trying to communicate _Go easy on them._ Nico doesn't even glance at him. Instead, he looks to Austin like he's waiting for an explanation.

"Don't mind him. We've been in here so much since the war that we've all become a little desensitized to this kind of stuff, now." Dana blurts, looking nervous.

Austin tacks on, "Will's even trying to keep the younger kids out of the schedule as much as possible so that they don't grow up to be psychopaths."

They stare at Nico, like whatever he says next is of the utmost importance. Will can barely repress his laughter when they tense up as the expression on Nico's face barely twitches. It was obvious that they weren’t as used to Nico's intimidation tactics as Will was. Nico hums. "Seems to me the earlier they see this kind of stuff, the better."

Dana and Austin exchanged a baffled look, but Will wasn't fazed. "Are you serious? You really think we should traumatize little twelve-year-olds?" Will asks.

"Trauma's not always bad." Nico protests. "Sometimes it makes you learn shit."

"Oh, so, you're in favor of what? Trauma in controlled dosages?" Will grins at the idea. "You want me to write prescriptions like, _remember to witness one horrifying event a month to ensure developmental stability._ "

Nico snorts. "Yeah, maybe. That'd be better than the alternative, at least."

"What's the alternative?"

"You get a sheltered kid who doesn't know how to handle it when life decides to fuck them over." 

There's a hard edge to Nico's voice when he says it. Will pretends like he doesn't notice. They must have stumbled into sensitive territory - which admittedly wasn't his strong suit. He had a tendency to be - what did Jessica call him the other day? _Insensitive_. "They're demigods," Will reminds him, hoping he sounds gentle. "No matter how hard we try, we're never gonna be able to shelter them. Might as well make life as easy for them as possible while we still can."

Nico looks up to him with round eyes. Even though he's staring Will directly in the face, Will gets the sensation that Nico barely sees him as he mulls over what Will just said. 

"Hey," Austin calls out. "If the Ghost King wants to see some fucked up shit, he should go visit Kelly."

" _Language_ , Austin." Will immediately reprimands. "Drachma. Swear jar. _Now_."

"Di Angelo was swearing!"

" _Di Angelo_ is not in my cabin. As far as I'm concerned, he can do what he wants!" Will says. Austin puts up his hands good-naturedly and pushes his way past Will to drop a drachma in the office. Will sighs and turns to see Nico watching him with a small smile playing on his lips. "What?"

"Nothing," Nico says. "Who's Kelly?"

"No one," Will says, sending a hard glare to his siblings. "And we do not _talk_ about the patients like they're exhibitions at the zoo"

"Sorry," Dana says, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

"Hey, go easy on them, head counselor. They're desensitized, remember?" Nico replies, nudging Will in his side. Will gives him a look. He can't tell if that was supposed to be a jab at the expense of his siblings or a jab at Will's leadership abilities. Given how he was acting earlier, it was probably the former. Nico just liked being on whatever side Will wasn't on.

"Austin!" Dana says loudly. "Come help me with something."

"But I-"

"Come _on_."

Austin groans and makes his way back to the cots, where Dana drags him towards the front of the building. With that, Will and Nico were left alone in the corner of the infirmary. The door to the office was still open and incredibly tempting. Will quickly shut it before he did anything that would technically count as _unprofessional_. He could already feel the back of his neck starting to burn. _Control yourself_ , he reminds himself firmly. _No one wants to hang out with weird, sweaty, nervous kids._

Still, it's hard not to feel awkward. It's the first time Will's seen Nico in a couple of days. Will's been busy with a wave of fresh, young demigods that had finally arrived to camp, each of them speckled with a variety of injuries. Even when he had a spare minute to seek him out, Will always found Nico when he was in deep conversation with Jason Grace. Something must've progressed with the little project they'd been working on.

_Or he just likes hanging out with Jason_ , a little voice in the back of Will's head pipes up. _After all, who wouldn't? He's so tall and handsome._

_Could you not?_. Will snaps back internally. Externally, he asks, "How's the Leo investigation going?" 

Nico shrugs. "It's going. Who's Kelly?"

Will scrutinizes him for a second. "You know, typically, when you talk with someone and you ask them a question, they give you a good long response-"

"Solace-"

"-And it's only after they've satisfied the asker do they feel comfortable enough to ask a question of their own."

"I've had conversations before." Nico huffs. "I understand how they function."

"Could've fooled me." 

Nico squints at him. "You know what? Nevermind. I don't even want to know."

Will sighs. "Fine. I guess I'll just have to go visit Kelly all by myself then _._ "

"I thought you weren't supposed to talk about patients like they're exhibitions at the zoo."

"They're not allowed. _I_ can do whatever I want."

Nico glares at him, but his curiosity about Kelly must've been stronger than his pride, because he starts, "The thing with Leo is complicated. The truth is, we're not much better off than we were before." Nico pitches his voice lower, and Will finds himself leaning in to hear. "I'm honestly losing hope."

"What do you mean?"

"The books - the legends - the myths - they all say the same thing. There are spaces between alive and dead, but they aren't places you can inhabit for long. Sooner or later, your destination is the Underworld." Nico shrugs. "The moral is always the same - You can't cheat death."

"Crazier things have happened. Until now, we all thought it was impossible to survive Tartarus."

Nico rolls his eyes. "That was different." 

"It wasn't! Plus, if it was you that was in that in-between space, I wouldn't give up until I saw your ghost for myself." The words spill out of him so easily, Will almost forgets to be embarrassed. But he quickly remembers that randomly saying things like that out of the blue was most definitely a symptom of a crush out of control, so Will hastily adds, "Or Austin. Or Dana. Or, you know, whoever." 

Nico blinks at him. For a second it seems like he's at a loss for words. Then he grits out, "I _guess_."

Nico's expression is comically surly. Will laughs. Then, he can't help but ask, "If you're so hopeless, why have you been spending so much time with Jason Grace?"

"Will Solace. You've been watching me?

"Not like that!" Will yelps. "I just look for you every now and again when I get off shifts. In a totally chill, non-stalker-y way."

"Right."

"Right!"

"You blush when you get nervous, you know that?" Nico says suddenly. His tone is just as bland as the expression on his face - to anyone watching, he looks like he's talking about something as mundane as the weather. Only the glitter in his eyes reveals the fact that Nico's making fun of him.

"Stop trying to change the subject." Will hisses, reaching up to cover his cheeks with his hands. 

Nico's expression cracks, just enough for a smirk. "Cute. Who's Kelly?" 

Will pats his cheeks, trying to get a hold of himself, even though the word _cute_ was replaying in his mind, like a jammed CD that wouldn't stop spitting out the same lyrics. He debates the pros and cons of calling Nico out for avoiding his question and decides it'll cause more trouble than it's worth. "Daughter of Hecate. You wouldn't know her, she only got claimed less than a year ago. She was trying to get the attention of her mother and got involved in some sketchy magic stuff."

"And that didn't end too well for her?" Nico guessed.

"Nope. A couple of months ago, Chiron found her in the forest, covered in these magical burns. I'd never seen anything like it." He rattles off the history like it's a passage in a book that he memorized. "I'm talking - skin practically slipping off of her, bright blue pus, exposed bone. The first time I saw her, I threw up. We had to move her to the Big House, where she wouldn't scare people. As head counselor, I'm the only one who sees her - sometimes I let Austin help out because he's technically the oldest and it's a good experience - but it's gruesome." Will glances at Nico, wondering what he thinks of all this, but Nico's face remains impassive. Without meaning to, he blurts, "I'm way out of my depth. I don't have nearly enough experience to make a difference."

It's not something he would've admitted it to anyone else. But he was prone to saying stupid stuff around Nico. Luckily, Nico doesn't even blink. He asks, "Does anyone?"

It's probably a rhetorical question but Will answers it anyway. "The gods probably do. But they don't seem to care, so..."

"Typical." Nico scoffs. "Do you want me to look at her?"

"No offense, Nico, but I don't know how much help you can be."

"Will," Nico says. "I meant _look_ at her."

Will's brain was so stuck on the part where Nico had called him by his name (and _cute!_ Did you forget the fact that he called you _cute_?!)that it took him a minute to put the pieces together.

Oh. Like, child-of-death, use-creepy-powers looking at her. Will gulped. 

"If she's not getting better...I can tell if she can be saved," Nico says. "How close she is to...you know. If you want to know."

"I don't," Will says suddenly, with a lot more force than he meant to.

"Got it," Nico mutters. "Sorry."

Will's been hanging around Nico enough to notice the way that he shrinks back into his shell. Feeling guilty, Will continues, "We don't need a child of Hades to know if someone's dying. We're doctors for a reason."

"Right," Nico says. "It doesn't bode well, though."

"What?"

"You're the best healer here. Even the medics at New Rome struggle with some of the cases you've cured within the past couple of weeks. If you can't help her, I don't think anyone can."

Will thinks of Mary's seizure yesterday morning. He thinks of all the people he didn't get to in time in the war. He thinks of his pathetic attempt to heal Nico, which obviously wasn't working. The fact that Nico - cynical, pessimistic, jaded Nico - believed in him so much...it was too much. Will can't think of anything to say. He can't even smile. All he can do is look at him.

The look on his face must've been pretty pathetic because Austin catches his eyes from across the infirmary and pretends to gag.

* * * 

"I don't get it," Dana huffs. "Why do you even like him?"

Will tosses a pillow at her from where he's laying on a bunk. "First of all, I don't _like_ him. Second of all, don't be _rude._ "

Dana doesn't even bother defending herself. She lets the pillow hit and immediately stuffs it under her head. "Did you read too much Twilight as a kid? Are you into that whole vampire thing?"

"He doesn't look like a vampire!" Will protests. He hesitates, and then says, "He's cute."

"Knew it," Dana grins. 

"What're you guys talking about?" Austin bellows as he barges into the cabin. His hair is all mussed and his eyes are shining. Will should reprimand him for coming in barely in time for curfew, but that would involve interrogating him on where he's been, exactly and - well, there were some things head counselors _really_ didn't need to know. 

"We were just discussing," Dana crows, "about how madly in love Will is with Nico di Angelo."

"Dude. As if that's breaking news."

Will winces. "Have I really been that obvious?"

"Oh buddy," Dana says, patting him on the shoulder. "If he hasn't figured it out by now, I don't think he ever will."

Will turns over and groans into his pillow. _Did_ Nico know? If he did, there was no indication of it. He was acting the same as he always was. Or maybe Nico was just that good of a guy, that he wouldn't let unreciprocated feelings ruin a friendship. But maybe that wasn't right either - Nico may be secretive, but he's way too awkward about feelings. He probably would've blurted to Will what he knew the second someone told him. So he didn't know. Probably. Hopefully.

"It's over." Will decides."I'm never speaking to anybody again." 

"Hey, cheer up! Maybe he likes you back!" Andrew says suddenly from his place on the lower bunk.

Will lurches down to glare at him. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that eavesdropping is rude?"

From across the room, Jessica calls, "It's not _eavesdropping_ if the people in question are talking loudly about their business!"

Gods, this was mortifying. 

"Yeah, yeah, it's _my_ fault Dana's so invested," Will calls back. "I'll have you know that I'd be perfectly happy never speaking of this again."

"Please. You can't go an hour without bringing him up." Austin snorts.

Dana groans. "Right?" 

"I do _not_ talk about him that much!"

"Yes, you do!" Andrew contributes, ever so helpfully. 

"Andrew," Will warns. "Don't get involved in this. It isn't going to be pretty for you."

Andrew scowls. He obviously was not taking the threat seriously and liking the fact that he's being excluded from the conversation even less. The look of exasperation on his cute, chubby face was so adorable that Will couldn't help but take it back. 

"I'm joking. Besides, who knows? Maybe you're right, little man. Maybe Nico will come in the middle of the night, throw rocks at my window, and sweep me off my feet. Then we can go live happily ever after and leave you all in peace." To Dana, who was exchanging a doubtful look with Austin, Will asks, "What? You guys don't think so?"

"Rocks on your window?" Dana repeats.

"Yeah, di Angelo seems like he's the type." Austin continues, deadpan. 

"I was joking. It was a joke."

"Sure."

"You guys, I know I'm pathetic, but I don't think he'd ever pull a stunt like that," Will says, his stupid face already flushing. "I don't even like him like that. And he definitely doesn't like me!"

"He could like you!" Austin tries. "Aw, Will, don't look like that. It’s possible. It's just….well, how are we supposed to know?"

"You're the only one he talks to outside of the prophecy kids," Dana says. "That's a good sign, right?"

"Right," Austin confirms. "Totally possible."

"Do you want us to ask him?" Andrew asks.

"Maybe we could set you guys up!" Austin agrees.

"You say that as if I haven't already tried," Dana sighs. "Why do you think I asked Nico to come to the infirmary today?"

"Why _did_ you do that?" Will asks sharply. 

Dana winces. "You seemed stressed! I thought he’d help!"

"How did you ask him? What did he say? Did you have to force him?"

"I don't know, Will. I just said that you were waiting around for him to show up-"

"That's _so_ not true!"

"-And he gave me the same look he always wears and just followed me in!"

Will had a million questions burning inside of him, but he felt like he could already see their answers in the faces of his siblings - Andrew optimistic, Austin tentative, and Dana unconvinced. Will felt his stomach sink through the floor. "You know what? As head counselor, I officially ban all Nico di Angelo talk in this cabin from now on."

"Finally." Jessica sighs.

"You know this rule applies to you too, right?" Austin teases. 

Will scowls. "Don't push it." After a beat, he adds, "And don't pull shit like that ever again."

"What's the big deal? All I did was tell him he should visit you, I was _so_ being subtle-"

"Not that! Just - don't worry about if I'm stressed, okay? I'm the head counselor. It's my job to be stressed. I can handle it."

"You're our brother, Will," Andrew says. "We're gonna worry about you no matter what."

Will suddenly can't hold eye contact with any of his siblings. His dear, sincere siblings, with their chubby cheeks and earnest eyes and good intentions. They want him to be happy. They want Nico to like him back. They care so much about Will's life and the stupid things that happen in it. Will felt a massive surge of affection for them all - so big he could almost feel himself tearing up. He hides his sniff by tousling Andrew's hair. "Who let the kid get so good at talking?"

"It's the Apollo genetics," Austin grins. "Poetry is, like, in our blood."

* * * 

"You did not just accuse the son of _Apollo_ of having bad music taste."

"Hey," Nico said, eyes crinkled in amusement. "I was under the impression you didn't inherit much from his musical side."

"Just because I cannot sing," Will says primly, "Does not mean I don't _love_ to."

Nico manages to roll his eyes and laugh at the same time - which was _so_ typical of him. If Will had to hazard a guess, he'd think Nico was the son of the god of mixed signals. Otherwise, how could he possibly manage to exude so much disdain _and_ amusement in one expression? 

The weather was good today, and it fit Will's mood. The number of demigods in the infirmary had drastically decreased throughout this week. Now, they only needed around two or three healers to man the ship at a time. Will had some free time - and he was spending it like this, walking aimlessly around camp with Nico di Angelo, who seemed like he was having a good time for once.

"Come on, then," Will taunts. "Prove it to me. Show me yours, I'll show you mine, we'll see who comes out on top."

"I would. Don't get me wrong, Solace, I'd prove you wrong any day. But my iPod is in my cabin."

" _iPod_ ," Will repeats. "Oh my god, you really were born in a different century, weren't you? Well, no matter! I guess we're taking a visit to your cabin!"

Nico gives him a weird look but gives in easily enough. That's something Will's been noticing lately - the amount of time it takes to needle Nico into doing something has been decreasing exponentially. A few days ago, he might have had to bribe Nico into letting him visit his cabin. Now, it didn't take anything more than a forceful suggestion. _What's changing_ , Will wondered, as Nico leads him towards the cabins, hands stuck in his pockets. _Why are you changing_?

To be honest, Will wouldn't have brought it up at all. The idea of being alone in a cabin with Nico di Angelo was overwhelming enough for him to avoid it at all costs. But there's a thing - a thing that he would never admit to anyone, especially after insisting that there was no Nico should ever feel like he didn't belong. The thing is he's starting to understand why Nico feels like an outcast. 

It feels like people are looking at them wherever they go. If it isn't Will's siblings giving them shit-eating grins and making fun of him from a distance, it was one of the prophecy kids regarding them with suspicion, or a random camper who'd do a double-take, as if the image of Nico with another person was shocking enough to make you spit out your water. Nico kept walking as if he didn't see any of it. To be fair, he probably had learned to ignore them a while ago. But once Will noticed it, he couldn't _stop_ noticing it.

Worst of all, it suddenly became clear how terribly obvious Will's crush was- if not to Nico, to everyone watching them. It was embarrassing. And Will was sick of feeling his cheeks burn every time Nico looked at him just right because he was scared of what his face might look like to everyone else. So what was Will's genius, totally subtle solution to this?

Dragging Nico to a random, isolated part of the woods. Canoeing to the middle of the lake, where no one could see them too clearly. And now - Nico's cabin. 

Which, Will thought as Nico opened the door just wide enough to slip through, might have been a terrible idea. From the crack in the door, he could just see the terrifying face on the statue of Hades leering at him from the darkness. He saw marble, felt a cool breeze, and immediately thought _I'm not supposed to go in there._

But then Nico called out, "Aren't you coming?" and who was Will to resist him?

It was cold inside of Hades' cabin. There wasn't any indication that anyone lived here. Nico was huddled in the far corner, where one warm desk lamp shone. Will gravitated towards it like how plants gravitated towards the sun. 

Nico's bunk was messy and littered with more things than Will had anticipated. He didn't know what he expected, exactly, but it wasn't this - black hoodies under leather-bound books, a knife sticking out from under his pillow, the ambrosia gummy bottle Will had thrown to him (not as empty as it should be). A cardboard box sticking out from under the bed, begging to be opened. A figurine of Hades resting on his marble bed frame. A photograph of Nico and Hazel pinned to the wall with the utmost care, right next to a photo of a pretty girl with a green hat. Bianca.

Nico's bunk was warm and careless and precious all at once. He thought to himself again, _I'm not supposed to be here._

But Nico didn't seem bothered. He was shaking the dark duvet on his bed with little thought for the objects stacked on top of it. Until finally - something fell out and clattered to the ground. Nico picked it up and presented it to Will triumphantly. He wasn't kidding when he said iPod. It must've been the first generation. It was black and had old-school worn-down earphones wrapped around it. Will wondered how Nico even managed to download music onto it at all. 

Nico tossed it to him. "Go crazy."

Will numbly looked down at the gift in his hands. "You're not even gonna choose a song for me?"

"Everything on there is better than what you listen to," Nico says, arrogant. He lays back on his bunk, back against the wall and legs sticking out the floor, looking overgrown and awkward and ridiculously attractive.

Will thinks of how he flinches anytime someone even breathes near his iPhone, and marvels, _Nico di Angelo_. _You don't do anything half-assed in your life, do you?_

He feels the intense urge to kiss him - but he doesn't think it'd go over well. Besides, there are more pressing issues to attend to. Namely, finding proof that Nico's music taste isn't as superior as he believes it to be. Will throws himself on the bed, next to Nico, knocking their shoulders together. 

"All these songs are at _least_ four years old," Will complains. 

"When do you think I got the iPod?"

"Did you find it in a dumpster or something?"

"Hades gave it to me." Nico shrugs. "Guess he felt bad, or something."

Will has a million questions, none that feel appropriate to ask right now. He tosses the iPod back to Nico. "I don't know any of these. You choose something. What song you pick will tell me all I need to know."

"No pressure," Nico scoffs, but scrolls intently all the same. 

Will stares at Nico's profile for a second too long, tries to distract himself by fishing out a book from where it was digging uncomfortably in his spine, and helplessly turns back to stare at Nico again. 

"Here." Nico offers an earphone to Will. "Don't be surprised if it's scary."

Will gladly takes it. "Oh, I'm _terrified_."

Scary wasn't the word to describe it. More - _rough_. The guitars were aggressive, the percussion never let up, the vocals were desperate. It was vent music if Will had ever heard it. Emotional. Vulnerable. And it was good. 

He closed his eyes, feeling a little overwhelmed. 

_I'm not supposed to hear this._

He couldn't think of anything safe to say, so he didn't say anything at all. They sat in silence as each song melted into another. 

He didn't know how much time had passed before he felt Nico nudge his arm. Will reluctantly opened his eyes. Nico is staring at him intently. "You don't look very scared," He accused. 

Will couldn't believe there was a time where he heard Nico say things like this and couldn't hear the fear that lurked beneath. He had no clue why he was being given these little pieces of Nico's life for free when they were hidden away from everyone else. The understanding between him and Nico felt as fragile as a house of cards. One breath in the wrong direction and Will could send it all tumbling down. For someone as clumsy as Will, it was terrifying.

So Will says, "Takes a lot more than that to scare me."

"Show me something scary, then," Nico huffs, like none of this meant anything. He tore his earphones out of the iPod and tossed them to Will. 

Will scrolled through his playlists, but suddenly none of his songs seemed good enough. There were some on there just as rough as what Nico showed him, sure, some even worse, but none of them _felt_ right. 

Will wasn't completely lying when he said he'd inherited Apollo's musical abilities. Sure, he sounded like a dying cat when he sang, but that didn't mean he didn't have a sense for this stuff. He had a knack for choosing the perfect songs to play for each moment, guided by nothing but a feeling in his gut. He'd never told anyone about this because it sounded stupid, but that feeling always felt like Apollo guiding him. As if he was looking down from the heavens, saying, _Dude, trust me._ It always worked - the song would be the perfect mood-setter for whatever Will wanted to get out of the situation. It's gotten parties to ramp up, friends to laugh, lulled younger campers to sleep. The right song has even coaxed a girl or two to kiss him, when he got the timing right. Right now, the feeling in his gut was leading him towards a song that he had never shown anybody before.

He hesitated before pressing play, and silently cursed his father. It did make sense in a way - vulnerability in exchange for vulnerability. Will _knows_ that this was the only correct song to show Nico. He knows it as much as he knows that the sky was blue. But he also knew he was going to hate every second of it. 

This was a song Will normally saved for sad nights - where he feels so overwhelmed by the world that he hides from it under the covers. Those nights where an intense sadness wells up in his chest, where all it takes is for it to burst like a balloon pricked with a needle is this song. It's the type of song that's embarrassing to hear it out loud in front of someone else.

Nico shuffles in place, leaning back to rest his head on the wall.

Will presses play.

An acoustic guitar drips out of the speakers, sticky-sweet. The vocals are high and lilting as the singer yearns for someone - anyone - to hold, to love, to cherish. Something about it always managed to hit Will straight in the gut. He couldn't imagine anyone ever wanting him that badly.

He waits for Nico to confront him. Instead, Nico just stares up to the ceiling and takes it in. Only after a minute or so does he ask, "This is your idea of _terrifying_ music, Solace?" 

"I thought all romantic, sentimental shit was scary to you, di Angelo," Will replied. 

It was a little too pointed to be anything but a hasty cover-up, and they both knew it. For a minute, Nico doesn't respond, and Will half-expects him to kick him out of the cabin. Then, he mutters, "I'm not scared of anything." 

"Promise?" Will asks, incapable of not poking at boundaries. 

Nico punches him in the arm, and then the song is shuffled into a top-40 hit, which sets off another argument, and all the while Will thinks to himself, _One day I'm gonna make you prove it._

* * * 

That night, Will jerks awake from a restless sleep. It's only been a week and a half since the time he woke up Andrew, but he hasn't managed a full night's worth of sleep since then. He's not surprised when he hears Andrew shift around below him. This time, when Will slips out of bed, he lets Andrew follow him out.

There, in the quiet night, Andrew asks, "What did you dream about?"

"Lots of things," Will replies. "Mostly injuries, though."

"Anything important?"

"Dreams aren't like that for me, kid." Will admits.

"Oh."

"What'd you dream about?"

"My mom." Andrew whispers. 

Will feels everything inside of him go cold. He slips an arm around Andrew's shoulders. "Is she gone?"

"Yeah."

"Do you miss her?"

"Yeah." Andrew hesitates. Then, he whispers, "She used to hold me like this when I had nightmares."

Will tightened his hold on the young demigod. "Next time you dream about her, tell me, okay? I'll hug you just like this."

"Okay."

Andrew rests his head on Will's chest, like he can't believe he's being allowed this. Will holds him until he falls asleep, chest rising and falling evenly. Together, they sit until sunrise. 

* * * 

Will steps a little closer to the fire, which was crackling playfully at a few feet and a wonderful deep orange. It seemed like campers were in a friendly mood tonight. Everyone seemed to have arms slung over each other. Cabins with rivalries were putting them on pause to exchange marshmallows and chocolate. Something about the most recent game of capture of the flag had seemed to smooth over old wounds. It's like they were all one happy little family.

It was a cheesy thought, Will knew. Nico would tell him so if he was here. He'd roll his dark eyes and grumble, _Really?_ like Will was delusional to think everyone could get along. He would pout in a way that was absolutely not adorable, and debate Will good-naturedly until they reached a stalemate.

And of course, right as Will is thinking of him, he feels a cool hand wrap around his wrist. Will does his best not to shiver as he vaguely realizes Nico must've shadow-traveled to the edge of the firepit to get here. That was a good sign, at last - it was probably the first time Nico attempted it since he got out of the infirmary. It took all of Will's willpower not to immediately look in his direction. Instead, he keeps his eyes forward in a desperate attempt to look unaffected as Nico whispers, "Hey." 

He's so close that his breath tickles Will's ear. Will's heart pounds traitorously in his chest. "Hey," Will responds, totally cool and collected. 

"Did I miss anything?"

"Nope. Everyone's getting along. All hunky-dory."

Nico hummed, sending a shiver down Will's spine. "Boring." 

Will risks a look at Nico's face and is relieved to find that Nico isn't looking at him, anyway. The light of the fire is bathing his face in this gorgeous orange glow, and to be honest, he looks so warm and good and _alive_ , and Will is feeling so much, and he's sure that if Nico were to look at him right now, he'd be able to see it all on his face. Something about them listening to music earlier today - the way that Nico had looked at him as guitar spilled out of the speakers - had taken Will's innocent crush and cranked up the intensity level to ten. It was scary enough to Will - he can't imagine what Nico would think if he knew. So thank the gods, he's looking across the crowd. And of course he is, because Jason and Piper are standing there, waving him over.

"Guess that's my cue," Nico mumbles, and shoots an apologetic glance at Will. Will is grateful it's just a glance - he doesn't know how if he could manage full-on eye contact at the moment. Nico squeezes his wrist once and lets go. "I'll see you after."

Will's stomach flips. "You better." 

Nico lips quirk and he sets off. Will lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and watches as he awkwardly picks his way to Jason and Piper, taking great pains not to come in close contact with anybody.

"Whipped," Dana coughs in her hand. Will shoves her shoulder, cheeks burning. "Really, Will, you could've at least _tried_ to look like you didn't want to kiss his face off."

"I've never seen him that quiet before. Has anyone seen him like that?" Austin adds on, helpfully.

Jessica grins. "He was trying so hard to control himself. He knew that if he opened his mouth the first thing to come out would be _I love you so much_."

"Could you be any louder?" Will hisses, urgently looking to see if anyone could hear. Luckily, all the other cabins seemed to be occupied with their own loud conversations. Across the firepit, Will caught Jason looking at him curiously. Will knew that technically there was no way he could hear any of what was just said, but he still felt mortified. He buries his face in his hands.

"Aw, he's blushing! Guys, look!"

"It is not my fault," Will manages to get out, "That he is so attractive."

This sends his siblings into another burst of laughter. Will had to suffer through several rounds of good-natured ribbing before he put his foot down as Head Counselor and, in a very dignified manner, threatened them until they let him be. 

Soon all the campers were singing along to songs and playing _Are You Smarter Than a Selkie?_ After a little while, Will and Nico made eye contact across the fire. Will mouthed, _Are you having fun?_ Nico's eyes were dark and glittering in the light of the fire as he mimed several different ways of killing himself. Will tried his best not to laugh. Nico was in the middle of a particularly gruesome one when Will tilted his head to the left. Nico turned in that direction and found, in his horror, a young demigod who was watching his every move with wide eyes. Nico looked so panicked that Will nearly doubled over laughing. 

"Poor guy," Dana said from Will's left, as Nico hurriedly crouched down to console the kid, who couldn't have been older than 11 or 12. "Why didn't you warn him sooner, you jerk?"

"Nico said it himself - trauma is healthy in small doses!"

Dana gives him a weird look. Petulantly, Will thinks _Nico would've thought it was funny._

After the campfire, Will noticed Nico walking in an opposite direction from most of the campers, towards the forest. He patted Dana's shoulder and told her, "Uh, I'll catch up with you guys later."

She grinned. "Sure you will."

Will elected to ignore that. But before he could start to catch up with Nico, he heard someone call, "Hey! Solace!"

Will turned around to see who else but Jason Grace. Son of Zeus and Roman exchange student. Tall, muscular, dignified, and perfect. _Not to mention,_ the little voice in the back of Will's head piped up, _Nico's best friend_. Will did his best to suppress a surge of jealousy as Jason jogged over. It didn't even make sense. It was a good thing that Nico was friends with Jason. It was so great that the walls Nico had up around everyone else melted away when Jason was around. It was _awesome_. 

"Hey, Grace." Will raised a hand and plastered on a cheerful smile as best as he could. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Jason replied. He stuck his hands in his pockets and studied Will's face. 

"So..." Will trails off. He smiles awkwardly. It's something he learned over the years - when you get yourself in unknown situations, you're more likely to escape intact if you have a big smile on your face and a bit of charm on your side. Something about this situation was screaming both _unknown_ and _danger!_

"Any plans tonight?" Jason asks suddenly.

Will shrugs. "Oh, I don't know. It's getting close to curfew." He tries to be subtle as he checks to see if Nico stuck around, but he was nowhere to be seen. 

"You're not walking back with your cabin, though." Jason presses. His tone is accusatory. Will suppresses the urge to step back. He wonders what he's being accused of.

"Yeah, well, I thought that I'd chat for a bit with-"

"Nico, right?" Jason finishes. He gives Will a hard look. "Why are you hanging out with him anyway?"

Will can't help it. He forces a laugh, like what Jason says is funny. His mind is working overtime, trying to figure out exactly when he fucked up, and how he managed to piss Jason off. "That's a silly question."

"Is it?"

Will chooses his words carefully. "He's cool. He's fun to hang out with. You should know since you're his best friend and all."

"I am," Jason confirms, taking a step forward. "And as his best friend, let me give you some advice. You can't expect to build any kind of rel- _friendship_ with Nico if you're not honest with him. He can't stand it when people lie to him."

Will finally takes a step back. "Well, good thing I don't lie to him, then."

"You promise him things you can't promise people," Jason says.

"Like what?"

"Like that everyone in the camp will welcome and accept him," Jason says immediately. "Look at the facts - half these campers are too scared to talk to him, and you'd be hard-pressed to change their mind. I know that he knows that."

"Any change can start with one person, right?" Will replies, feeling a little weak. 

"Is that why you hang out with him?" Jason asked. "Just to prove that you could be friends with him if you wanted to? That you could conquer the terrifying Nico di Angelo when no one else could?"

And there it was. The real reason Jason had pulled him aside, and the source of all of his hard questions. Will could hardly believe it. _Jason Grace_ was interrogating him about his _intentions_ with Nico di Angelo of all people. Will almost wanted to laugh again - but luckily, this time around he was managing to suppress it. "Jason Grace. That is way out of line."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Is it?"

"Do you hear yourself right now? You're asking all these questions like Nico isn't smart enough to figure the answers on his own. You think I could hang out with him with a hidden agenda without him knowing?" Will shakes his head. He could feel his hands getting shaky like they did whenever he got really, really angry. "Does he even know you wanted to have this conversation with me? Or did you keep it from him because you assumed he'd be better off not knowing?"

"I'm just trying to -"

"You want to know how to ruin a relationship with Nico? Go around and talk about him like he's some ignorant kid who doesn't know any better. He hates it when people do that, by the way."

Jason's mouth clamped shut. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Jason relented. "I'm sorry. That wasn't my intention. Like I told you, he's my friend. I just want to make sure no one's feelings are gonna get hurt." He shoved his hands deep into his pockets. It was weird - in that one motion, it was almost as if this godly, legendary Jason Grace melted away. Now the person who stood in front of him, looking awkward and mollified was a seventeen-year-old kid. Will suddenly remembered that behind all the stories of war, tragedy and victory was a guy that was only a year older than him. 

This is a guy that had experienced nearly dying a whole lot more than Will has. A guy who saw Nico when he was first lifted out of Tartarus and was by his side as Nico had regained his strength. Something happened on that quest that made Nico trust Jason almost as much as his own sister. Will thought about how protective he had already felt about Nico after three days in the infirmary. How he also looked at the people who stared at them suspiciously, when he and Nico had only really known each other for a couple of weeks. Will swallowed down the hot feeling of guilt, and offered, "I get it."

"People around here don't see him as an actual person, and I'm getting sick of it." Jason continues. "I trust his judgment - but Nico's a good guy, you know. He likes to be surprised by people. He wants them to be better than they actually are. I just want to make sure that you're not one of the ones who'll disappoint him."

"No promises," Will says, sort of joking but not really. "But I'll do my best."

"Good. That's good to know." 

"Jason. I stand by what I said. I know it's not going to be easy, but I think therés a place for Nico here at camp."

"Me too." Jason agrees. 

"I don't know if interrogating every person he spends time will help." 

"Well," Jason sighs. "I'm not interrogating _every_ person he hangs out with."

Will can't quite parse out what he means by that, but it reminds him of a question he's been meaning to ask for a while now. Before he can talk himself out of it, Will says, "Actually - could I ask you a question?" 

"Sure thing," Jason says.

"You and Nico...you're pretty close." Will starts. Jason raises an eyebrow. " _Not_ like - I only meant - he lets you touch him even though he hates it. Whenever you're around and something happens, he looks to you first. He trusts you, a lot."

"I guess he does," Jason says. He seems a little startled at the fact, as if he hadn't noticed it until Will had said it. 

"Well, I guess I'm just wondering...something must've happened for him to trust you so much right?" Will says, and quickly follows it up with, "Not in a rude way! I just meant that I never would've thought you two would get along and...

"And you're wondering how that happened?" Jason finishes. He scratches the back of his neck, looking a little confused. "I'll admit that's not the question I thought you were going to ask."

"What did you think I was going to ask?"

Jason turns red. "It's not important. Listen, you're not totally wrong to think that. I didn't exactly know him very well, and you know Nico...he's not the friendly type." Jason cracks a smile, but his eyes are dark. "Things happen on quests. Nico and I had to go tackle something, and we came out of it alive, and after that, we trusted each other." 

"But that happens all the time," Will counters. "Nico's saved the lives of so many people here, and I'm sure other demigods have saved him. What makes you different?"

Jason winces. "Sorry, Will. That's Nico's story to tell. If you want to know, you should ask him." 

"What if he doesn't want me to know?"

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Jason claps Will on the shoulders.

At that, Jason decides to leave Will to stew on their baffling conversation.

It felt like Will was just put through some sort of fucked up test.

And apparently, he'd passed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone!! i just want to say thank you so much for all the feedback I received!! as someone who hasn't published fanfiction in like five years, and hasn't even read percy jackson in that long, hearing that the characterization is pretty good and that you all enjoyed it was super validating!!! anyways here's will's perspective which was fun to write. i hope you all continue to like this story hahah. the next chapter will take a little longer to upload because i only have a little bit of it written so far, so look out for that!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone! thank you so so so much for your continued support and patience. ALSO WOW THANK YOU FOR OVER 1k HITS that's insane to me. this chapter took me a while to upload just bc i was really struggling with it, but luckily i got it to a place where i'm pretty proud of it! i could probably continue editing it for months, but sometimes you have to know when to take a step back and just move on, you know? next chapter should take less time, but no promises!! hope you like it!

It's quiet in Camp Half-Blood after curfew. The lights in all the cabins shut off, the usual constant chatter of demigods fades into silence, and Nico di Angelo lays awake in his bunk with an itch he just can't quite scratch burning under his skin. He rolls over and watches the profile of Hades' face gleam under the moonlight. Music blares from his headphones, loosely tangled in his sheets. Normally it would be enough to drown out whatever else was in his head. Not this time.

He thinks about how Hazel had taken down the blanket Nico had tossed over the statue before she left. She said that it was out of respect for their father, as if that made any sense. No amount of respect could justify the creepy feeling that wafted across his cabin like black smoke when Hades' visage was exposed. It even weirded out Will last time he was here. Nico could tell by the way he edged around it, like he was scared the statue was gonna jump out and grab him.

Of course, Will got over it easily enough. The second it was out of his sight, he was back to being a nuisance, trampling over Nico's bed and touching all of his things. After he left, It took Nico twenty minute to painstakingly put everything back in place. 

Nico should leave Hades uncovered just to scare him off.

Will's asleep right now, probably.

_You should go wake him up._

Nico rolls over to the other side of his bed, and boosts the volume of his music. It was a stupid urge to have. For as long as he could remember, he preferred being the only one awake. Even as a kid, he was the type to wait until he was sure that Bianca was asleep so that he could pull out a flashlight and read under the covers. It was the one time of day where she wasn't reprimanding him for being too loud, or attracting the wrong sort of attention, or looking over his shoulder for monsters he didn't quite know how to recognize yet.

Things were different now that he wasn't constantly scared for his life. Even more so now that he actually had people he didn't mind being around. Having friends sort of ruined him; he couldn't go a day alone without this restless feeling creeping up from under his skin. 

He wonders what Bianca would think about that. 

Nico rips the headphones of his ears. It's like his mind was playing a sick game of _Would You Rather_ with him.

_Would you rather stay up all night thinking about your stupid crush or stay up all night thinking about your dead sister?_

_Neither._ He thinks furiously to himself, slipping out of bed. Nico pulls on the first hoodie that his hand touches, and carefully closes the door to his cabin behind him. The itch under his skin burned. _Get used to it_. He thinks to himself. _You won't have friends around you forever._

Nico was fully intending on making himself useful tonight - either by practicing his powers, or doing some more research before his next meeting with Jason. Hell, he could probably kill two birds with one stone. _Yeah,_ Nico thinks, _Ghosts know things about the Underworld, right? Maybe they'll be useful._

To summon a ghost, he should probably go somewhere nice and isolated, preferably where there have been a lot of deaths. But against his will, his feet started to turn him towards the other wing of cabins. He knew what route he was taking; where it was leading him towards. 

He didn't know what his feet expected. 

Will''s asleep. There was no reason to go over there. Not to mention he'd definitely get caught. It's not like the children of Apollo were known for being deep sleepers. Nico imagined one of them waking up in the dead of the night to see him peeking through a window and shuddered.

But, it turns out that Nico's feet knew something that Nico's mind didn't - and that was that Will was not only awake, but sitting on the porch of the Apollo cabin. The faint glow of the walls radiates from behind him, making the tinges of his hair gold, illuminating the curves of his facex, the tip of his nose. It was like something out of a dream - or what Nico imagined normal people dreamed about. Before Nico could decide whether or not he should approach him, Will looks up.

Nico halts, and sways awkwardly in the night air. In that moment, half of him thought, _Fuck. Why didn't I change into some real pants?_

The other half thought, _Fuck. What's wrong with Will?_

Will's face was ashen. Under the moonlight, Nico could see dark circles underneath droopy eyes. It was unnerving - like seeing some sort of dark, underworld version of Will. Like he was a ghost, a dead man walking.

The feeling under Nico's skin burned. 

"What're you doing up?" Will asks. His voice is rough, like he hasn't gotten a wink of sleep yet. He barely glanced at Nico's pajama pants, which were adorned with pirate-style skulls and crossbones. That's definitely a red flag - by now, Will should've already made fun of them about ten different ways.

Nico hazards a step closer, unsure of how he should respond. "I thought you knew that I'm nocturnal."

Will rubs his eyes. "Well, it wasn't on your medical chart."

"You probably overlooked it. What're _you_ doing up?"

Will looks back at his knees. His hands are still where they're shoved into his pockets. "Can't sleep." 

"Obviously." Nico says. He takes another step forward. He'd never seen Will like this before. The closest comparison he could make was that time in the forest, where Will's expression had cracked, and his voice quivered as he said, _I respect you. And what you want. And who you don't want around._ Last time, it had taken a messy apology to wipe that look off of Will's face. Right now, Nico didn't even know where to start. He blurts, "Do you wanna get out of here?"

"And go where?" Will asks.

"I don't know. Anywhere." Nico says. He rubs the back of this neck with a sweaty hand. "The forest?" 

"Because wandering in the forest, where the _monsters_ sleep, sounds like a great idea."

Nico tries a new tactic and goads,"What, are you scared?"

"You suck at being spontaneous, di Angelo." Will replies, but now his eyes are crinkled up on the edges. 

Nico barrels on, "Well, it's not like what you had going on was much better. Unless, you really were planning on sitting there all night?

"The harpies will get us."

"Nah," Nico says. "The harpies are scared of me." It wasn't even slightly true, but at this point Nico would have said anything. Anything if he could just please stop looking like that.

Will stares at Nico for a long moment, his mouth slightly parted. Then he says, "If any monsters wake up, you're killing them."

"Don't worry." He says, offering a hand to Will and heaving him up to standing position. "I'll protect you." 

"My knight in shining armor, huh?" Will frowns. "We'll have to get you a bigger sword."

Nico rolls his eyes. Will lets go of his hand almost immediately. 

_Stupid_ , Nico curses himself, feeling the skin of his hand tingle against the night air. A month ago, a few feet would've been more than enough. Now, watching Will walk beside him from a safe distance, it felt like an overwhelming amount of space. Nico shoves his hands back into the pocket of his hoodie. _Don't get used to it._

Walking through Camp Half-Blood at the dead of night is eerie. The moonlight washes everything in a muted gray color. Areas normally chock-full of busy demigods - the dining hall, the climbing wall, the grassy fields - are silent. 

"What're you thinking about?" Will asks. His voice still sounds groggy. 

Nico hums. "I don't know. I guess I didn't really notice how much camp has changed."

"It's bigger now." Will notes. "Even with the damage from the last war, we have way more buildings than we used to have."

"I guess." Nico replies. "Not just that, though. It's just more..." He trails off, not sure what word to use. The spirit around camp was different. It's almost like everyone here, after living through two terrible wars, had realized that maybe they had what it takes to survive. 

"It's more." Will agrees.

Nico glances at him again. Will's eyes are still dark. His hands have started to pick at the edge of his shirt. It was making Nico nervous, so he grabs Will's wrist and pulls it away. Will's eyes are round as he stares at him. Nico tells him, "It's annoying when you do that."

"Sorry." Will mumbles. His hands drop to his sides.

"Don't apologize." Nico says, frustrated. "It's more annoying when you apologize."

The edges of Will's mouth curve, just a little bit. "Nico," he says. "What are you actually doing up?"

_I wanted to see you_. Nico thinks. _I couldn't stop thinking about you._ "I was gonna summon a ghost to see if they knew anything about Leo."

"A specific ghost?

Nico waves a hand. "Whoever's around, I guess. The best way to learn about what's going on in the Underworld than to ask someone in the Underworld. Ghosts are used to everything always being the same. If anything weird happens, they notice it."

"Okay." Will says. "Let's do it."

Nico stops in his tracks. "What?"

"What do you need to summon a ghost?"

It doesn't take long for Will to scrounge up some soda and chocolate bars from the Apollo cabin's stash. Once he's back, he finds Nico in the forest digging a hole in the ground. The smell of Coke combined damp soil wasn't as bad as you'd think. The sound of it glugging down to the earth below was always sort of satisfying. Not even the wet splash of greasy food that followed was gross enough to ruin the effect. 

Will shifts on his feet. Nico wipes his hands on his pajama pants. "Are you okay?"

"Do the ghosts look gross when you see them?" Will blurts out. 

"Like, with injuries, and stuff?" Nico asks.

Will nods.

"Um. Some do, some don't. Depends on the circumstances of their death." 

"Right."

Will's eyes are nervously darting from side to side. His hands have started twisting in his shirt again. Nico looks at them. Will makes his hands go still with a guilty look on his face.

"It's pathetic, right?" He sighs, almost sounding like he's trying to play it off like a joke. "A medic scared of injuries. I mean, I'm surrounded by injured and sick people all day. It's my _job_ to take care of them. But once it's dark out, suddenly I can't handle even a little bit of blood." 

"Well, you're not being a medic right now." Nico replies. "So who cares?"

"What am I, then? Your partner in crime?"

"Not entirely inaccurate." Nico says. "It's not like I was given permission to do this."

"Okay. Good. Great. So I'm a coward _and_ a criminal, now." Will says. His eyes are still fixed on the offering. His nose twitches, like the smell is bothering him. "How embarrassing."

Nico stares at him. _What is happening?_

"You think that's embarrassing?" Nico interrupts. The damp hole filled with offerings lies forgotten beneath him. 

_What the fuck am I doing?_

"You got something better?" Will scoffs. 

Good. That was good. Nico would probably never go through with this if someone wasn't challenging him to do it. He squares his shoulders and confesses, "I had a crush on Percy Jackson."

It should've been easier to say the third time, Nico thinks. But it's not. He's still bracing himself for what will come next, like even a single word in response could shatter him. And then - after a few moments of petrifying silence - Will blinks, and asks, "How is that embarrassing?"

It wasn't the question Nico was expecting. He fumbles for an answer before landing lamely on, "Well - because - he's _Percy_."

"Yeah." Will agrees. "Half the girls around here get a crush on him as soon as they get a good look at him. He's got that whole powerful, sarcastic, dark and handsome thing going for him."

"What? Not your type?"

Will tilts his head, regards Nico curiously. "Well, now that you mention it - it sort of is, yeah. Which is my point actually. How is that embarrassing?"

Nico wants desperately to know what he means by _sort of_ but he's too embarrassed to say ask. Instead, he says, "You _know_ why." 

"I really don't."

" _Because_ , he's him. And I'm me."

"So?"

" _So_ , I was this dorky kid that followed him around, and he never even thought of me that way. That's embarrassing."

Will's shoulder slump. "Oh," he says, sounding relieved. Why did he sound relieved? "Well, we've all been there." 

"Solace." Nico starts. He hesitates. "Will, what did you think I was going to say?"

Will brushes imaginary dust off his jeans. "I didn't - I was just a little worried. That maybe you might be embarrassed about being...you know..."

"Gay." Nico finishes. It slips off his tongue with surprising ease, considering how tortuous this whole conversation felt.

"Yeah." Will admits. "But there's nothing wrong with that-"

"I know." Nico cuts him off. "Jason tells me about a million times a day."

"So, Jason knows?"

"He was the first person I told. Long story."

Will nods, uncharacteristically serious. Nico can practically see his mind working overtime. He stays quiet, and focuses on trying to calm down. Let Will come to whatever conclusion he wanted to come to. He'd already given up more than he was planning on, earlier than he thought.

"Does Percy know you like him?" Will asks.

" _Liked_." Nico corrects hastily. "And yeah. I told him and Annabeth right before you got me into the infirmary. Then I told him he wasn't my type." 

Will blinks at him. Nico shifts on his feet, feeling awkward. "Not my best moment." 

"Are you kidding me? That's literally the best thing anyone's ever said." 

Nico almost wants to laugh at the serious expression on Will's face - the adrenaline pumping through his body was making him feel crazy - but he manages to keep himself under control. "Will. You're literally the only person other than Jason, Percy and Annabeth who knows. So don't go around spreading the good news."

Will pouts. "But how are you supposed to get a boyfriend if I don't wingman for you?"

"I think I'll survive," Nico replies dryly. " _The point is_ , we're both embarrassing losers. Can we move on with the summoning, please?"

Will grins, and looks like he's about to say something dangerous. Luckily, the distinctive call of a harpy interrupts their conversation. Instinctively, Nico covers Will's mouth with one hand, and uses his other to drag him behind a tree. _Quiet_. Nico mouths. Will licks his hand. Nico immediately drops it, making a face. He hisses, "What's wrong with you?"

"Shut me up like that again and I'll bite," Will whispers back.

Nico hears fluttering wings and a snapping beak. It was followed by a weird, wet sound, like it was stepping in the offering Nico had made _._ The smell of human food must've attracted the harpy to them. Will clamps his mouth shut. His eyes are wide, and Nico doesn't need to be a mind reader to know what he's thinking: _Please don't let them eat me!_

Will's got the right idea.

Nico should probably be more scared of the monster picking at human food two feet away from them. 

Instead, he feels - well, something he's never really felt before. It's like he's filled with the giddy adrenaline he used to get whenever he opened up a new set of Mythomagic cards. He'd never had a night like this before; one where he was the one convincing a friend to sneak out just for fun, spill some secrets because he felt like it, run from harpies without the slightest tinge of fear. He feels like anything might happen. Even better - like he might do anything. 

"Will," Nico whispers.

"What?"

"Hold on tight."

"What?" Will repeats. The wrinkle in his forehead deepens as realization blooms over his face "Nico di Angelo, don't you _dare_ -"

Too late. Nico already has his eyes shut, and a wide grin on his face. Without another word, they melt into the shadows.

Nico loves shadow-travelling. The wind, the cold, the way your stomach drops. He'll never forget he had felt the first time he had actually managed to pull it off. He had been on his own for years, but it was like his first taste of independence. A first taste of who he was meant to be. 

Apparently, Will Solace wasn't as much of a fan. The second they reformed, in the darkness of the office in the infirmary, Will turns around and throws up in the nearest trash can.

"You're welcome," Nico says, deadpan.

"You're such an asshole." Will replies weakly. 

"Would it kill you to be a little grateful?" 

Will flips him off, but he's already looking less pale. "Wander in the woods, you said." Will mimics. The color is slowly but surely returning to his cheeks. "It'll be fun, you said."

" _You're_ the one who couldn't be quiet for more than five seconds!"

"Well, _you're_ the one who wanted to go and _wander around_ in the middle of the night!"

Nico pauses. "Well...yeah, that may have been a judgement error on my part." 

They stare at each other for a second. 

Suddenly, Nico bursts out laughing. He can't remember the last time he's laughed so hard - so much that his stomach hurts, and he has to bend over. When he straightens up again, he sees Will staring at him with a weird look on his face.

"Sorry," he says. "I'm acting a little crazy."

"I hate you." Will tells him.

Nico breathlessly helps him get up with two hands wrapped around his wrists. Will sways forward dangerously when they stand, like he might topple any second. Nico steadies him with a hand on his waist. "You good?"

"That was awful. That was the worst thing I've ever experienced." Will insists.

"Well, that's how shadow-travelling feels like when you're weak." Nico says, as nonchalantly as he can manage.

"I am not _weak._ "

"Really." 

"Really! Let's go again, right now. I'll prove it to you."

"If you throw up again this time..." 

"I won't!" Will insists. 

Then the door bursts open. Dana stands on the other side, looking half-asleep and completely baffled. 

Nico stiffens up. Will darts back until there's about a foot of space between them. 

Suddenly, Nico feels embarrassed. _Of course he wouldn't want you to touch him like that, now that he knows_.

She blinks at them.

They blink back.

"Am I dreaming?" Dana asks.

Nico and Will exchange a glance. "Nope."

"You guys are really here? At - two in the morning?" 

"Not by choice." Nico says with a dark look.

"You're the one who dragged me out in the first place!"

"You guys were hanging out. Alone. In the dark. At two in the morning." Dana says.

"Not like that," Will replies suddenly, his cheeks bright red.

"Not like what?" Nico asks.

"I'll leave you to it!" Dana squeaks. 

"We weren't-" Will starts, but she slams the door before he can get anything else in. 

"Weren't what?" Nico repeats, feeling uneasy.

Will stares at him. "Forget it." He tugs at the tips of his hair. Nico wants to stop him, but he doesn't want to make Will uncomfortable. "Guess I'll be helping Dana with the night shift tonight."

"Guess so." Nico agrees.

"So." Will sighs. There's a sparkle in his eyes that didn't bode well. "Percy Jackson, huh."

"Nope." Nico decides. "We're _not_ talking about this."

Finally, for the first time that night, a brilliant smile breaks across Will's face. In just that change, it's like the Will Solace standing in front of him had transformed into a different person from who was sitting on the steps with a drooping head. It was stupid, but Nico felt a burst of pride flare up in his chest. _I did that_ , he thought. _He's like that because of me._

"Just answer one question for me, then." Will pleads. He has a whole big-eye, begging-puppy look going for him, like Nico doesn't already do whatever Will asks in the first place.

"Just one."

"If he's not your type, who is?"

Nico could barely stop himself from rolling his eyes. As if he wasn't being obvious enough, what with the midnight confessions and declarations to protect him from harpies. "Figure it out, Solace." 

Before he can see what Will's reaction to that is, Nico salutes him, and melts in the darkness.

* * *

"I communed with the dead last night." Nico announces casually, sitting down on the empty seat across from Jason. 

Jason raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were with Will Solace last night."

Nico's blood runs cold. He pulls out a book from the bag he brought with him with more force that was necessarily and scowls. "Since when are you on speaking terms with _Dana_."

"Since when do you unnecessarily risk getting killed?"

Nico shrugs. "I'm _always_ at risk of getting killed. Lesson number one in being a demigod, Jason Grace: never let your guard down."

Jason quirks an eyebrow. "So, in between staring at Will and running from harpies, when did you squeeze in time to commune with the dead?" 

_"I wasn't_ _staring_ -" Nico protests and immediately cuts himself off, shooting Jason a dark look. He should've known better than to get baited with that. Jason looks entirely too smug. "You should know better than to antagonize the person who has relevant information."

Jason raises his hands in defense. "Ok! I'm done now. What did the ghost say?"

"The usual," Nico waves a hand nonchalantly. "Please take me to the Underworld, my Lord, complete a task for me when I can give you nothing in return, my lord."

"And what'd you tell him?"

"That's not how these things work." Nico replies. "Even if I could send him down with a fast pass, there's no guaranteed entry in the Underworld for ghosts who aren't already in the system."

"So you didn't find out anything."

"Nothing."

Jason slams a scroll down violently, making the table shake. Nico glances down at the scroll and up to Jason's face. Jason, for his credit, doesn't take it back. Instead, he doubles down by slamming his fist down next to it.

"Something troubling you?"

"It's been _six weeks_ , Nico." Jason groans. "Six weeks, and we're not anywhere closer than we were before."

Nico shrugs. "I told you it wasn't going to be easy."

"I know but..." Jason sighs. "I wish Rachel could just give us a prophecy or something. Something we can actually work with, you know?"

Nico gestures with the book in his hand. "This is the problem with you people."

Jason raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. " _Us_ people?

Nico looks back down at this book. "Always expecting things to be that easy for you, all the time. You always need a prophecy, or for the gods to come down to personally give you your next mission. Well, this is how things go for the rest of us. You grasp at straws until you don't anymore."

Jason doesn't seem convinced. "Surely that's not sustainable."

"That's what happens when your quest isn't about the world ending. The gods don't care, so they don't help you, so you're on your own." Nico idly flips a page. "A new concept for someone who's never had to do anything on their own, I guess."

"If you believe that, then you don't know me as well you think so." Jason replies.

Nico looks up, and sees Jason with a smile that was really more like baring his teeth. Something the wolves must've taught him, Nico thinks. Nico stares back, unfazed. "Then prove it."

Jason clenches his jaw. Nico doesn't know if he's seen through his bait yet, but even if he did, it was too late now. He really was similar to Percy - they were both so easy to provoke, and so easily motivated by their own anger.

"I want to go back to New Rome," Jason says. "There's a whole trove of Roman texts that might be helpful."

Nico's surprised he hasn't suggested it sooner. "When?"

"As soon as possible."

"Okay, sounds good." Nico agrees easily. "Hazel will be happy to hear it."

"Oh." Jason's cheeks go a little pink.

"Reyna's also been on me for not iris-messaging her enough." Nico winces. "She's gonna kill me when I get back."

"Nico..."

"You don't want me to come?"

"No! I want you to come. It's just - Are you strong enough?"

Nico rolls his eyes. "Jason, I'm good."

"Have you shadow-travelled recently?"

"How do you think me and Will got away last night?" Nico waves a hand. "Kid's stuff. Didn't even feel it."

"You should ask him, though, just to make sure."

"Maybe." Nico looks back at the book.

"So...did you have fun last night?"

"I thought you were done with this."

"I thought you'd be done with Will weeks ago." Jason says. "You really like him, right?"

"I hate him."

"Sure you do."

"Stop acting like you know what I feel." Nico snaps.

"What's up, losers!" Piper announces happily, stealing the seat next to Nico.

Nico glowers at Jason in silence.

Jason coughs awkwardly.

Piper asks, "Are you guys fighting or something?"

"We're going to New Rome." Jason tells her.

"Are you?" Piper says. "What for?"

"Nothing." Jason and Nico blurt at the same time. Before Pipe can say anything else, Jason awkwardly mumbles an excuse about going to an archery class and all but jogs away.

"What's going on?" Piper asks. "Seriously, you guys are acting weird."

"Nothing." Nico repeats. Piper stares at Nico, like she'd be able to crack him. It only took a few minutes of him staring back before she blew out a frustrated sigh and got up to track Jason down. 

They had to figure out a concrete plan soon, Nico decided. If they didn't, there was going to be trouble. Namely, a Piper-kind-of-trouble. 

And he was right. Over the next week, every time he and Jason sat together, Piper managed to find them and butt in. She'd already figured out that there was something going on, and she obviously resented the fact that she wasn't being included. Nico even saw her cornering Chiron at some point to demand some answers.

Finally, she caught Nico while he was sword-training. Nico idly thought it was a bad idea to try and interrogate him while he was holding a knife, but Piper didn't seem to notice. She dragged him to the side, out of earshot of other demigods, and pulled him down to a sitting position, as if she was enjoying a pleasant chat with him under the sun instead of holding him hostage. 

"What are you and Jason researching? Is there a quest? What is all of that about?" She asks, without a moment to breathe.

"What is _what_ about?"

"Don't lie to me, di Angelo." Piper says, her eyes fierce. "I don't know what Jason said to you, but I promise I can handle it."

_Little does she know, Jason wanted to tell you._ Nico thinks. _I was the one who said you couldn't handle it._ And now, looking at her furrowed eyebrows and the harsh grip on his elbow, Nico knew he was right. If calm, methodical Jason was only starting to get frustrated now, Piper would've lost her mind weeks ago.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nico bites out.

Piper lets him go. "Fine. Be that way. I'll find out eventually."

"What, are you gonna use your Charmspeak on me?" Nico taunts.

"You and I both know that wouldn't work on you." Piper sighs. 

Nico wants to deny it, but he knows it'd be for nothing. Piper stubbornly looks out to the horizon. Her brow was furrowed, and her jaw was set. Nico can't remember the last time he saw her this angry.

Against his will, he starts to feel the unfamiliar feeling of guilt prickle up. He rubs his face, hoping that he could ignore it. When it persists, Nico sighs. "Piper, if I could tell you, I would."

"Well why can't you?"

"It's one of those things where the less people know, the better." Nico replies. "Jason wouldn't keep it from you if he didn't think that was the only possible option."

"I know," Piper says. "That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt, though."

They watch demigods spar for a while. Nico feels his stomach turn. He knows it's for the best that she doesn't know until they have anything else. He knows it would hurt her to search for so long and find nothing, just like it was hurting Jason. So why did he feel so bad for not telling her everything? 

Being a good person seriously wasn't what it was made out to be.

"So I've been thinking," Will says, plopping himself down at Nico's side like they're in the middle of a conversation. "I've figured out a way to get revenge for the whole harpy situation."

Nico turns to face him, surprised. Will's wearing his obnoxious jean shorts and a bright orange camp tee. He has a smudge on his forehead he probably didn't even know was there. Nico couldn't help but notice that he's sitting a few inches further than he normally would - wonders if he's scared of getting too close now that he knows Nico's gay. 

"Gods, Solace, you scared me." Piper sighs. "What harpy situation?" 

Nico ignores her. "Getting revenge? Surely you mean paying me back for saving your life?"

"I mean _revenge_." Will insists. "Mark my words, di Angelo; I'd rather die than shadow-travel again."

"Next time I'll let you die then," Nico shot back.

"Well since we don't know when next time is, this will have to do for now." Will replies, setting a basket in front of him.

Nico glances down at it. "What is that?"

"We're going strawberry picking."

At that, Piper bursts out into laughter. "You're an ambitious one, Solace."

"Is that even allowed?" Nico asks. As far as he could remember, no demigods outside of the Demeter or Dionysus cabins ever went near the strawberry fields.

"Sure, it is." Will shrugged. 

Nico regards the basket suspiciously.

"I can't believe this," Will sighs. "Nico di Angelo, Ghost King, son of Hades, doesn't want to break the rules."

"So you admit that it's against the rules." 

"You didn't seem to be such a goody two-shoes when we were summoning ghosts the other night." Will nudges Piper. "Someone would think you're actually scared of strawberries, or something."

"You guys were summoning ghosts?" Piper asks, watching Nico with a weird look on her face.

"After curfew, no less!" Will tells her. 

"Solace, knock it off." 

Will, to Nico's utter bewilderment, sticks out his tongue.

"Mature," Nico says, as he decides the only reasonable course of action is to put Will into a headlock. Will struggles to fight him off but ultimately goes limp as Nico successfully wraps his arm around his neck. He ruffles Will's hair for good measure.

"All right, okay! I've learned my lesson!" Will protests.

"Aw, let the poor guy go, Nico." Piper laughs.

Nico lets him go. It sounds stupid, but he forgot that Piper was sitting literally right there. He remembers the way that Will jumped away when Dana walked in on them in the cabin. Will probably didn't want to be grabbed like that - especially not in front of other people. Nico tries to sound normal as he says, "Let that be a warning."

"Beware, anyone who dares to tease Nico di Angelo. You might get tickled!" Will wiggles his fingers in faux-horror. He doesn't look like he was at all bothered by what just went down. But then again, Will Solace has always been good at hiding. Abruptly, he stands up. "Stop stalling. Let's go!" 

Nico reluctantly grabs the basket. 

"Are you seriously going?" Piper whispers as Will sets off in the direction of the Big House. "Did Will pick up charmspeaking on the side, or something?"

"It just sounds slightly less insufferable than sitting next to you at the moment."

"I wonder why," Piper replies, a dangerous curve to the edge of her mouth.

For some reason, that one comment pissed Nico off more than anything else Piper accused of him today.

Will seemed to notice when Nico didn't reply to any of his attempts to have a conversation. When they finally arrived at the field, Nico ripped up a strawberry with enough force to uproot a whole clump. Will thankfully kept his distance. Having some space should've made Nico feel better, but it didn't. All he could think about was how, the more that Nico thought about it, the more he realized that Will had been skirting away from his touches all week.

It took thirty minutes of strawberry picking and Will's bad jokes for Nico to cool off.

It was hard to stay mad in the strawberry fields. There was nothing to annoy him, since it was so isolated and quiet. There weren't even any insects (Nico suspected that the protective barrier around camp had something to do with that). The strawberries were bright red and so juicy, it didn't take long his basket to feel heavy in his hand. 

Once their baskets are full, Will quietly takes Nico to a relatively clear spot in the fields. He pats a stretch of grass right next to him, but Nico lays down a few feet away. 

Will works his way through the basket, tossing the strawberry stems in a pile to the side. The sunshine beamed down on them at the same time a cool breeze from the ocean lightly brushed against their faces. If Nico died, he thought, this might not be a bad afterlife to end up with.

"What do you dream about?" Will asks suddenly. He sounds uncharacteristically solemn. "When you have nightmares, I mean. Do you see anything?"

"It depends." Nico replies. He has a few guesses as to why Will is asking. "I used to dream a lot about Percy."

"I'm sure you did." 

Nico throws a strawberry at him. "Not like that, idiot. He was just always almost-dying, so my dreams let me know how to help him. Other than that, I just dreamt about whoever was currently trying to kill me."

"Sounds fun."

"At least it's useful."

Will sits up. "That's what _I_ always say."

Nico rolls over to look at him. "Sometimes I wonder," Nico says, words slipping out of him all too easily. "About what normal people dream of. "

Will hums. "Probably boring shit, like going to the grocery store or something."

"I think they dream of people." Nico says. "Isn't that what they always show in the movies? They dream of old memories, and people they like, or whatever."

"Who'd you dream of?" Will asks, stretching out in the sun. "If you were human, I mean?"

"Bianca." Nico says without thinking. He doesn't realize that it's true until he says it out loud.

"I remember Bianca," Will says suddenly. Nico's blood goes cold. "She was pretty. A lot nicer than all the Huntresses. They were always so rude and she'd stop by afterward to apologize." He pops another strawberry in his mouth and then notices the look on Nico's face. "What?"

"Nothing - it's just - sometimes I forget that, like. People other than Percy knew her." Nico gestures helplessly. "That people knew me...before..."

"Oh, I knew you, alright. Don't you remember meeting me?" Will asks. 

Nico gives him a hard look. "I had a lot going on that year."

"I can't believe this. I mean, understand if you forget me when you're in the middle of war, but you can't even remember _meeting_ me."

"Oh gods. " Nico groans. "You're never going to let this go"

"It's going on my list of grievances." Will says solemnly. He points a strawberry to Nico. "Be ready for a lot more strawberry picking trips to make it up to me."

"And I thought I had issues with grudges." Nico mutters. Will throws the strawberry to Nico's face, who catches it barely in time. Will starts picking at the grass by his feet. Nico takes a bite of the strawberry. 

"I didn't understand back then either, you know." Will glances at Nico and back at the growing pile of shredded grass at his feet. "Why you wouldn't stay."

"Same reason as always."

"I _know_ but..."

"Listen, Will, I didn't have any reason to think I should stay. No one wanted me to. Don't look at me like that - _it felt_ like no one wanted me to, happy? I'd already been on my own for a while at that point. Plus, I knew I could go back to the Underworld and be just as safe there as if I were to be at Camp Half-Blood. Except, you know, I would actually belong there."

" _Belong_ in the Underworld. Nico, do you hear yourself right now?" Will snaps. "You know you're a demigod, right? Emphasis on _demi._ Whatever part of you is a child of Hades is only half of you. The other half - the half that belongs to your mom and to Bianca - that's just as much a part of you. You think Bianca would've felt like she belonged in the Underworld?"

It was the right thing to say. And if Nico was anyone else, he would've taken the comforting words as they were, accepted it. Lifted the burden off of Will's shoulders. But Nico, because he was Nico, had to sift through the reassuring words Will had given him and find something that hurt. So Nico smiles a bitter smile and says, "I don't know. I was a kid when she died. Sometimes it feels like maybe I didn't know her at all."

Will goes silent for a few moments after that. Then, he says, "Ask me."

"Ask you what?"

"What you've been wanting to ask me for the past few weeks. What everyone's asking each other these days. Come on. Ask me."

Nico sighs. "When are you going back to school?"

"I'm not." Will replies quickly. He prods, "Ask me why."

"Why aren't you going back to school?"

"Because I live at camp full-time. Because my mom died two years ago. Because I have nowhere else to go." Will grabs a clump of grass and lets it sift through his fingers. "I'm not trying to say that I understand you perfectly. I'm just saying - I don't know. All the pain that you feel? That's the human part of you. It's gonna sound weird, but you're the most human demigod I know."

Nico could barely look at his eyes. How was it that Will always knew how to cut him directly to the core? From the beginning, Will's been able to land a barbed comment right where it would cut a little too deep. Will always found him easy to read - and it was getting worse now that they've been hanging out. Nico was, against his common sense, opening up. If Will was blindly stumbling across the intricate maze that was Nico's issues before, now he was seeing through them clearly. Now, he was choosing to say something that would hit home.

Will paid too much attention to him. 

It was kind of addicting. 

"Glad to know you consider me human," Nico replies.

"Whatever." Will sighs. "I give up."

They lapse into another silence. 

Nico should bring up New Rome. Will's in a serious mood, for once, and he'll answer honestly. If Jason was here, he probably would've mentioned it a long time ago.

But Nico doesn't really feel like talking anymore. Besides, he had been testing his powers on his own and steadily regaining his strength. He didn't need a second opinion to affirm what he felt about his own body, did he? 

Will stretches back, closing his eyes as he soaked up the sun. Their conversation rings throughout Nico's head. He felt seen and heard and _known_ in a way that no one had ever tried to know him. 

_Don't get used to it_ , Nico thought. 

It might be too late. 

* * *

"Nico, thank you for agreeing to come meet me." Chiron says, ushering Nico to sit at the table on the porch. _Not like I had a choice_ , Nico thinks. He was wandering around camp, watching Ares kids get into fights when a satyr nervously approached him and stuttered out that Chiron had called for him. Nico wondered what would've happened if he decided to say no. Probably nothing. At worst, maybe he'd get a disappointed look over dinner. Chiron was frustrating like that.

Chiron hands Nico a cup of tea. Nico regards it suspiciously. "Am I in trouble?"

"Not to my knowledge," Chiron replies. "Unless, of course, you're doing anything that warrants punishment?"

Nico thinks of wandering around past curfew, summoning ghosts behind Chiron's back, picking strawberries. "I've done nothing that warrants punishment," Nico says.

"As careful with your words as ever," Chiron sighs, which is funny, because Nico would argue he's all together too impulsive with his words as a whole. 

"So, why am I here?"

"I am here to ask you about your endeavors to find Leo Valdez." Chiron raises a hand the second Nico opens his mouth. "Now, there's no use in denying that you and Jason have decided to ignore my advice and continue the search on your own." 

Nico shifts uncomfortably in his chair. "Sir, we just thought-"

""Better to ask for forgiveness than permission?" Chiron hummed. "It's not the first time a young hero has chosen to go on their path, despite what I advised them to do. I don't hold it against you, Nico. But all this secrecy...I must say I'm disappointed."

"So I am here to get punished." Nico accuses.

"Not in the slightest." Chiron leans back in his chair. "Is there any way that I may help you in your quest?"

"It isn't technically a _quest_." Nico splutters. "We don't even have a prophecy."

"Would you like to ask for one?"

" _No_." Nico slams his teacup on the table. It splashes over, staining the wood. "Sir, to be honest, I don't have any hope in finding Leo Valdez."

"Ah." Chiron frowns. "Then, Nico, I must ask-"

"Why am I doing this?" Nico finishes for him. "I don't know what else I'm supposed to do. Even if I tell Jason what I really think, he won't stop until he's made absolutely sure. I wish I could go back in time and take back what I told him, but it's too late for that now. All I can do is tell as little people as possible and help Jason until his hope is completely destroyed. _That's_ the quest."

Chiron doesn't respond. He studies Nico's face curiously. The quiet eats away at Nico's patience until he blurts, "And I don't care how immoral or dishonest or stupid you think I am for doing it."

Chiron sits in silence for a little bit longer, before finally saying, "I see." He adjusts his glasses. "It is a very noble thing, to try and shield your friend as much as you possibly can, with little to no consideration for yourself."

"I'm not-"

"Now, Piper tells me you're going to New Rome. I may have a few recommendations that could help you in your search. What did Will say about your condition for travelling?"

"Why is everyone always asking me about Will?" Nico demands. "We haven't magically fused together to form one person, have we?"

Chiron blinks at him, looking bemused, which just infuriated Nico further. "I simply meant that a medical opinion wouldn't hurt."

"He's not my doctor," Nico hisses.

"I see."

"He's my friend." Nico finishes, feeling stupid.

"Is that so." Chiron replies, his eyes twinkling. At that moment, Nico hates him. He hates the way that he could look at Nico's uncontrollable wave of emotions with such amused detachment.

 _No one takes me seriously_ , Nico thought to himself. _They always think I'm overreacting_. _They always think everything is so fucking easy._

"I don't need him to give me permission to do anything." Nico continues. "I can take care of myself."

"I suppose no one really needs anyone else," Chiron agrees easily. "But it is quite nice to have people around anyway, no?"

"Not really." Nico replies. "Not in most cases."

"But in some." Chiron insists.

Nico stares at him blankly.

Chiron offers him a biscuit.

Nico doesn't stay in the Big House for much longer. Chiron promises to get him a list of titles before they leave, and says that he will do his own research while they're away. Nico agrees, and tries his best not to flinch away when Chiron sends him off with a pat on the back.

On his way back, Nico notices a group of two or three girls looking in his direction and then turning to each other to giggle, not even bothering to act inconspicuous. If it was another day, he would've ignored them. But his talk with Chiron had rattled him, and he was in an irritable mood. Nico stops in his stracks and asks, "What?"

If they were at all intimidated by Nico's harsh tone, they don't show it. One of them - Jenny, Nico vaguely recalled, daughter of Aphrodite - grins. "Hi, Nico!" She says, unusually brazen. "How's Will doing?"

The two other girls who Nico barely recognized immediately burst out into peals of laughter and _oh-my-gods-you-did-NOT-just-say-that_ 's. Nico squints at them. Daughters of Aphrodite acting all brave, asking him about Will? It did not bode well. However Nico reacted would start a mountain of rumors, he was sure. So Nico chooses the safest route and affects a look of irritated confusion, before stalking off.

Dana catches his eye on his way back to his cabin and tilts her head towards the infirmary. Nico doesn't spare her another glance.

* * *

The next night, Jason comes up to Nico with Piper in tow and they both hastily apologizes for crossing any lines. Nico looks at their earnest faces and manages to put his vague irritation towards them to the side, like shoving a box under your bed to deal with later. 

They drag Nico to the campfire, where Jason and Piper compete to see who could fit the most marshmallows in their mouths without spitting some out. Nico was keeping careful count, making sure to throw out taunts every now to lightly sabotage the competition. It was slightly overwhelming to feel so included - even more so to realize that Nico didn't really think much of it anymore. The constant narration of _they don't know you, they don't really want you around, they're keeping you as long as you're useful_ has died down from an overpowering onslaught to a minor annoyance. 

It was nice.

It was weird.

Weirder still when Nico saw Will Solace approach them. His stomach jumps, and then quickly fills with dread. Will grins at him, blindingly handsome as always. Nico meets his eyes and tries as hard as he can to mentally communicate _GO AWAY._

So far, Nico has managed to get into a pretty comfortable place sociability-wise with both Will Solace (of all people) and the Argo crew. Nico was pretty confident with each of them separated -- but together, it was unpredictable. Each demigod was a force of nature, and there was no telling if he could handle them all together.

He had enough experience dealing with _unpredictable_ in his lifetime, thanks.

Unfortunately, Will doesn't pick up on Nico's telepathic communications. He makes a beeline towards their corner of the firepit, even waves. Nico raises a hand weakly in response.

"Solace!" Jason mumbles out of a mouthful of marshmallows. He quickly spits some out into a napkin so that he could grin at Will without looking horrific. Piper raises her hands in victory. Now marshmallow-free, Jason waves Will over. 

"Hey, guys." Will chirps. He comes to a halt right next to where Nico is sitting and lightly kicks Nico's side with his foot. "I can't believe you're at a bonfire again. I thought you hated these things."

"I do," Nico says, deadpan. "I'm being held here against my will."

Will laughs. Piper asks, "Any plans tonight, Will?" 

"Oh, no, I'm just stopping by for a few minutes before I get back." He shakes his head at Jason, who was offering him a freshly made smore.

"Wait," Nico says. "You're going back to the infirmary? Weren't you there this morning?"

Will shrugs. "There's, like, three patients there that I'm a little worried about leaving alone for the night." He cracks a grin at the other demigods. "Plus, there's a mountain of paperwork waiting for me. Technically my siblings are supposed to do it, but they're so lazy. They're lucky I'm such a good big brother, or I wouldn't let it slide."

Nico wasn't amused. "You're saying that you just finished a twelve-hour shift, and you want to go back for more?" When Will shrugs, he continues, "They'll survive a night without you. Sit down."

"Appreciate your concern, di Angelo, but you're not a doctor. So what do you know?"

Nico blinks. "If any of your patients were in mortal peril, I would be able to tell. Child of death, remember?"

"He's got you on that one, Will," Jason says, good-naturedly. 

"At least have one smore!" Piper chimed in, shooting Nico a significant and not-at-all subtle wink. Nico glares back, irritated.

Will was still smiling, but he didn't seem convinced. He shifts his weight from one foot to another, as if he was debating whether to stay or to go. Nico could hear him overthinking from a mile away, so he quickly adds, "Don't be a hypocrite." 

Piper elbows him hard for that one, but it seemed to do the trick. Will glares at him for that comment, gracefully accepts a s'more from Jason, and sits down. His shoulder knocks against Nico's on the way down. When he sits, he presses himself against Nico's side. Piper raises her eyebrows. Nico goes stiff. Will seems to catch the look on Piper's face, because he suddenly jerks, like he was stung by something, and subtly shuffles a few feet away. 

Aside from that, and all the significant looks Piper and Jason kept casting his way, it wasn't as bad as Nico had thought it would be. It should've been worse. After all, everyone there but Will had been stuck on the same ship for the better part of the year together. For once, if there was an outsider, it wasn't Nico. It should've been Will. But it turns out Will was also incredibly good at blending in. He bantered with them, laughed at all the right moments, accepted pats on the head and playful shoves like it was his second nature. 

It should've been great - both of Nico's worlds smoothly blending into one.

It wasn't.

Nico started to feel more and more irritated, unable to shake the feeling that _it shouldn't be that easy._

Will was laughing too hard at some story about Buford that probably didn't even make sense to him. His laugh sounded strange - a little too smooth, not the dorky, hiccuping sound Nico was used to hearing. Instead of his eyes crinkling shut, Will's were half-open and glancing around, as if he was checking to make sure he was doing it right. It wasn't real. It was some weird, polished version of Will that Nico had no interest in encouraging.

"Why are you laughing?" He asks. "You weren't there."

Will's smile freezes on his face, but his voice is completely normal when he replies, "It's funny. It's a funny story. You don't necessarily have to be there to experience it to get why it's funny."

Nico can already feel Jason and Piper giving him their patented _Nico-that's-not-very-polite_ look, but it just spurs him on. "You know it's okay, though." He insists. "If you don't get it."

At that, Will's composure cracks just a bit. "I know," he says, not sounding very sure about it.

"You're being weird," Nico informs him. He kind of expected Will to respond with an equally barbed jab at his expense, or to throw up his hands in a classic Solace-is-frustrated style gesture. Instead, he seems to retreat deeper inside himself. It's unnerving, this version of Will. All too smooth one second, and uncharacteristically tentative the next. This wasn't the Will that forced his way into Nico's life and then somehow convinced him to thank him for it. 

Piper prods his side sharply and whispers, " _What the hell._ " but Nico doesn't even spare a glance in her direction. Instead he stares at Will and tries telepathic communication again. _What's wrong_ , he asks silently. _What is going on with you_. 

"Hey, Will!" Jason says, clearly trying to break the tension. "What'd you think about our trip to New Rome?"

"You're going to New Rome?" Will looks at Nico. Nico looks back.

"You didn't ask him?" Jason says weakly.

"I don't _need_ his permission." Nico insists for probably the fourth time this week. He wants to avert his eyes, but he can't. "I don't _need_ to tell him anything."

"When are you leaving?" Will asks casually.

Jason and Nico exchange a glance.

"In two days," Piper tells him. Nico elbows her. She glares at him. "What? He doesn't deserve to be left in the dark." She shifts her glare to Jason. "No one does."

The fire crackles. No one else seems to notice the newly-formed tension that hovers over the curious little group on the edge of the campfire.

Will only holds Nico's gaze for a few more seconds before he suddenly stands up, clapping his hands together. "Well, this has been fun," he blurts out. "But I think I'm gonna go check on my patients."

This seems to stir Jason and Piper out of their silent argument. "Aw, do you have to go, Will?" Piper says, pointedly polite. 

"The burden of being such a talented healer, I guess!" Will grins. "Don't miss me too much when I'm gone." And then he leaves in the same way he does everything, a whirlwind of grabby hands and golden hair and smiles that are a touch too wide. Once he's gone, they turn to glare at Nico.

"What?" Nico asks, knowing fully well why they're upset with him.

"You're such an asshole," Piper says.

Nico immediately looks to Jason, who winces. "I mean, she's not wrong."

The two of them look at Nico, like they're trying really hard to figure him out. Maybe if it was any other day, Nico would take this opportunity to be a better person. After all, if there's one thing Nico's learned it's that the less you explain yourself to people who are trying to be your friend, the more irritating they'll be. 

But his patience had worn thin. The only reason they're so surprised is because of the stupid assumptions they had made about whatever was going between them in the first place. Nico hadn't said shit to them. Whatever they thought was their own fault. 

He turns to Jason and says, "Don't act like you're any better than me.If you actually trusted her, you would've told her by now."

Then, he stands up and follows Will. 

There's a few people looking at them weird as they leave the bonfire early, but what else new? Will must notice Nico following him, but he doesn't slow down once, even as they reach the deserted dining pavilion. 

Will comes to a stop and turns around. He meets Nico's eyes with a sullen look. "Why are you following me?" 

"Why aren't you heading towards the infirmary?" Nico asks back. "I thought they needed you."

Will blows out a heavy breath. "I'm tired, Nico. I don't think I'd be much help."

"Since when do you take breaks when you're tired?"

Will doesn't say anything in response. He looks down, kicks a pebble with his shoe.

"What's going on with you?" Nico demands.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Will says, conceding immediately. "Sorry. Happy?"

Nico was so frustrated that his voice was shaking when he blurted out, "Stop apologizing. Why aren't you mad at me?" 

Will blinks at him. "What?"

"I acted like a jerk. Why aren't you pissed at me? " Nico asks. "This is how we work. We fight. I yell at you, and you yell at me back."

"Is that what you want?" Will asks. "Do you want me to insult you, and pick on you, and fight with you over anything? Over everything? Don't you ever get tired of it?"

"No - yes - I don't know." Nico waves his hands uselessly in the air. "That was the deal."

Will looks away. "Well, maybe it's just me, then."

"Just you, what?" Nico asks, knowing the answer will hurt him.

Will meets his eyes. "Maybe I'm the only one who's sick of getting yelled at."

The words hit Nico like a punch in the stomach. Blood rushed to his face. He thought, _But you said you liked fighting with me,_ and the words sounded so pathetic in his head that he knew he could never say them out loud. 

"Right." Nico says, and his voice sounds strange and distant. "Right."

He was so, so stupid. 

He thought he heard, vaguely, Will calling after him but his heart was pounding so loudly in his ears that he couldn't really tell. The next thing he knew, he was melting in the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [nervous emoji] sorry about that. this is a slow-burn, after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico comes back from New Rome, reconciliation, some of the plot progresses, and more!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! Thank you so so much with your patience with me. I literally did not expect to take 50+ days (yes I counted) to post the next chapter. School really hit me. I've been reading all of your comments & they really motivated me to keep going! I could have proof-read this a bit more, but I figured you all have waited enough. Here it is!!!

Will wakes up to a familiar weight clambering up onto his bunk and a faceful of hot morning breath. 

"Guess what?" Andrew whispers (who else would pull a stunt like this?).

Once Will is awake, it's almost impossible for him to go back to sleep. It's only out of spite that he keeps his eyes stubbornly closed.

"Leave him alone." Will hears Jessica hiss. "He had the night shift last night, remember?"

"This is important - hey, get off!"

Will opens his eyes only enough to get a glimpse of Jessica yanking Andrew off of his bed by his ankle. Once Andrew unceremoniously tumbles to the floor, Jessica whispers, "You're lucky you didn't wake him up."

Oh, right. Will's supposed to have slept through that, somehow. He closes his eyes and shifts around on the bed for good measure. It must've worked because when Andrew speaks again, his voice is hushed.

"But, Jessica-"

"Kid, unless the Romans are attacking us, there's no reason to go around and wake your _head counselor_ up."

"Jason Grace is a Roman, isn't he?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He's back, with di Angelo!"

Oh.

"What?"

"I was going towards my archery class when I saw them, and then di Angelo asked me where Will was, and I said that he was sleeping, and he looked kinda weird, so I told him that I could go wake him up, so Nico said that would be nice, so I ran back here to wake him up."

" _Keep your voice down._ " 

"Are you gonna tell him?"

 _Too late now,_ Will thinks. Still, Jessica says, "Yeah, I will. Now go bother someone else."

When Will hears the cabin door shut, he opens his eyes. Jessica is watching him with a weird expression on her face. Will blinks at her, bleary-eyed. Then, he pulls the duvet back over his head.

_It’s too fucking early for this._

And so, approximately nine days after he was left in the dark, Will Solace finds out that Nico di Angelo returned to Camp Half-Blood. 

At least he heard it from Andrew, first. Will was willing to bet that the second he walked out of the cabin, he would've been bombarded with the news by literally any other kid walking by. Any trips out of Camp Half-Blood drew the attention of campers no matter how hard some people tried to keep it quiet. It took one day for most people to notice Jason and Nico were gone, two to piece together that they went to New Rome, and three to realize that neither Piper nor Will was too happy about it. Some tried to pry more information out of Will, but he just fielded off their questions with a shrug that said, _I know as much as you do._

When his siblings asked the same thing at the mess hall, he said just as much.

Everyone learned pretty quickly that it was best to leave him alone. 

Only Dana was stubborn enough to crack him. Three hours deep into a nightshift, he gave in. Sat in the dark office of the infirmary, he told her about all of it; that Nico and Jason were looking for something, their fight after the campfire, how Nico left. Dana received each piece of information with a pensive look on her face. When he was finished, all she did was ask him if he was okay.

For once, Will didn't have the energy to pretend like he was.

He'd collapsed against the office chair and said to her, "I knew I'd fuck it up eventually."

"Will," Dana starts. She hesitated for a moment. It only took one look, then, for Will to see that she was trying to be as nice as she possibly could. Which, for Dana, was saying a lot. "Whatever that mess was? That wasn't your fault. No matter how messed up someone is, if they're an asshole, they're an asshole."

Will hadn't been able to think of a way to argue against that without proving her point, so he stayed quiet. 

Internally he was sure that Dana didn't get the situation; whatever she was thinking wasn't based on reality, but whatever warped perception she had of the both of them. 

Still, he couldn't stop thinking about what she'd said. It was lodged in his mind like a popcorn kernel stuck in his teeth. 

He didn't have the energy to fake being okay around the others either. He didn't know how much Dana let slip, but it was enough for them not to give him shit for working a little too hard, or sleeping too much, or cracking too many bad jokes. It's an even trade, actually. They pretended that there's nothing wrong, and Will pretended that their pitiful looks didn't rub him the wrong way. 

It's funny. He used to find Nico interesting for being so different from anyone else he'd ever met. Yet, the little voice in his head that resented their meager attempts to reach out to him sounded an awful lot like him.

Half of Will wants to stretch out his time in bed as long as humanly possible. He'd barely slept six hours, so no one would even think twice if he did. 

But hiding out here would be useless. Nico would find him eventually. He'd break down the door before he'd leave things unfinished between them. Will knows that Nico likes a good ending; a sure one. He'd probably rather get it over with sooner than later.

Will's body is thrumming with so much energy, he can feel himself start to shake. All of thirty seconds after he hides under the duvet, Will throws it off.

"Breakfast?" He asks.

"Sure," Jessica replies.

It was always the most disgusting combination of weather towards the end of the summer; damp and chilly in the morning, scorching hot in the afternoons. Will pulls on a hoodie knowing that he'll just peel it off two hours from now, stuffs his feet in some sneakers, and drags Jessica out the door.

"Let me brush my hair, at least!" She complains.

"I'm _hungry_ ," Will tells her. Which he isn't, not really. The knot in his gut ensures that he won't be able to keep anything down even if he tried.

Camp is bustling with energy, but there isn't a specific concentration of commotion like there would be if someone just got back from the outside. Will finds himself scanning every place they walk past. 

Finally, they arrive at the mess hall. Will takes two steps in and catches a glimpse of black hair. Instinctively, he immediately turns around. 

"What are you doing?" Jessica asks.

"I - um - I forgot something," Will says.

"Do you want to go back-"

"I'll see you in the infirmary!" Will yelps, and practically jogs away. 

_Stupid_ , he thinks to himself, heart is pounding loudly in his chest. _That probably wasn't even him. How many other kids with dark hair do you know?_

A lot.

Still, Will barely manages to repress the tangled knot of nerves in his belly by the time he makes it to the infirmary. Dana and Austin are already there, huddled over a patient together. 

"Good morning!" Will greets. He grabs a pair of gloves near the door and immediately pulls him on. 

"More like, afternoon," Austin replies, deadpan. "Dude, how long did you sleep for?"

"Not as long as I wanted. Guess who tried to wake me up this morning?" Will replies, heading to the back to pull on some scrubs over his clothes. 

"Andrew?" Austin guesses. When Will shoots finger guns at him, indicating that he's right, he laughs. "Man, we gotta fix that kid's sleeping schedule. He has _way_ too much energy at the most random times."

"Doesn't help that he can't sleep through the night." Will taps his chin. " How terrible would we be if we snuck some melatonin in his dinner tonight?"

Dana throws them a harsh look. "That's fucked up."

Will points at her. "Swear jar."

Dana rolls her eyes but pulls out a drachma. Will steps in place besides Austin. "Hey, Lance, how's it going?"

Lance, one of the older campers from the Aphrodite cabin, shrugs. "Not so good." 

"I can tell," Will says. He leans in closer to the severe burn spanning Lance's forearm. "What on earth possessed you to climb the lava wall?"

Lance grins. Incredibly, he manages to look handsome even in a hospital bed. His dark hair is messy, but his skin is glowing. His smile is crooked, and a little more than gorgeous. "Was trying to impress this girl-"

" _Which girl?"_ Austin asks, with way too much interest.

"Jane. From the Demeter cabin."

Austin frowns. "Bro. She's so into you. You did not have to do that."

"It's a pretty stupid reason to get injured," Will agrees, rummaging in the kit by the bed for some ambrosia.

"No way. Isn't love the _best_ reason to get injured?"

Will exchanges a look with Austin.

 _This is why I can't hang out with Aphrodite kids_ , Will express through a grimace.

 _I thought it was kinda sweet,_ Austin replies with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, don't worry, we'll get you back to the love of your life soon." Will turns to Austin. "Do you need Dana for this?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Kay, I'll take her with me then." Will turns back to Lance. "Feel better, loverboy!"

"Right back at you," Lance says with a wink. "I heard di Angelo is back, by the way."

Frozen in place, Will stares at him. "I, um...I fail to see the correlation."

"No correlation," Lance amends smoothly. "Just an observation! Might be relevant to your near future."

Austin laughs loudly. "Never thought I'd hear a child of Aphrodite predict the future. Take a word of advice from Apollo's kid - try not to be so vague. No one will believe a word you say if you are."

Will could probably spend an hour interrogating Lance on just _what did he mean by that, exactly_ \- but he has patients to see and things to do, so he doesn't. Instead, he says, "Nice seeing you Lance,". Then he grabs Dana and a medical chart, and gets to work. 

It takes all of twenty minutes for Lance's bogus prediction to come true.

First, Will catches a whiff of something familiar; spices, cinnamon, the slightest tinge of vanilla. Then, Dana whispers, "Will." Will looks up and sees Nico di Angelo staring back at him.

He always looked a little out of place in the infirmary. Even when he was sick, sleeping in the cots, he stuck out like a sore thumb. It was something about his black clothes against the harsh white of the walls and floor, or his hair that stuck out like spikes. Or maybe it was the fact that he emanated the energy of someone who didn't want any help in a place created for people who needed it. 

In a voice that sounds a little distant, Will asks, "Can I help you?" 

Nico holds up a brown paper bag. Will leans forward to take a good look at what's inside. It's a blueberry muffin, his favorite. Will glances up at Nico's grave expression. He says, "I'll meet you outside in two minutes."

Nico nods and turns to leave. Will strips his hands of his gloves and starts to pull off his scrubs. Dana grabs his arm. "Seriously?" She demands. "That's all it's gonna take?"

"Dana..." Will starts. He glances around, but the infirmary is pretty empty at the moment other than Austin and Lance, who seem to be consciously minding their own business.

"A _muffin_. This guy freaks out on you and then disappears for a week, doesn't even have a word to say to you when he comes back and you're going to crawl after him for a _muffin_."

"Don't judge me, I didn't have breakfast this morning. Plus, it's a blueberry muffin!" Will adds. "Most divine of all muffins. Not even Apollo would resist an offering like that. Will you let go of me already?"

Dana stares at him. "I honestly thought you had more self-respect than that."

With that, Will's barely-held-together resolve crumbles. Sharply, he says, "Dana. Let go of my arm."

Her eyes go wide. Will barely holds down the first tinges of guilt before shoving an armful of scrubs at her. He stalks out of the infirmary, where Nico is waiting with an apologetic look on his face. Will waits. Nico probably realizes that Will's not going to say something first, so he starts walking.

Will and Nico must have walked together through camp a million times, just like this. It's the first time Will had no clue what to say. One part of him wants to blurt out an apology; another petulantly points out that Will has nothing to apologize for, and yet another is just taken aback by the feeling of having Nico by his side again.

_He's looking pale_ , that side of him notes. 

_He's probably been feeling horrible since we last saw him._

_He deserves it._

Normally, when Will's nervous, his first instinct is to laugh it off. He doesn't feel much like laughing right now.

Dana's voice is still ringing in his head.

Nico pauses outside of his cabin. He hesitates for a moment, looking towards the side. The dark circles under his eyes look like bruises. At length, he asks, "Do you want to come in?"

Will shrugs.

Nico opens the door. 

Every part of him comes together to think, _I'm not supposed to be in here._

Will follows him inside.

Nico drags out the cardboard box that was stuck under his bed. He sits and looks at the space across from him expectantly. Will sits down. Nico opens the cardboard box. Will peers inside to find - mountains of Mythomagic figurines and cards. They don't appear to be neatly organized, but Nico shuffles through them like he knows exactly where everything is. 

Will takes the opportunity to rove over Nico's appearance. He doesn't appear any worse than when he first left. Maybe the bags under his eyes are a little darker. But he's not gaunt; his wrists, where they're rummaging through the box, don't jut out of his skin like they used to. Will looks at the curve of his lips, his jaw, his dark eyebrows. The only thing that gives away that something might be wrong are Nico's eyes. They're dark. Shifty.

Nico finally pulls something out and presents it to Will. It's a figurine of Apollo - radiant, with a beaming smile.

There are a million things that Will wants to say - what he thought about late at night, what he wanted to say when they were fighting, what was brimming in his mind on the walk over - but it all dissolves. When he takes the figurine of Apollo, all he can think to ask is, "What is this?"

Nico points to the muffin. "Peace offering number one." He points to the box. "Peace offering number two." 

Will closes his hand over the figurine, presses it against his chest like it’s precious. "Okay."

Nico heaves out a heavy sigh. He rests his elbows against the sides of the cardboard box, like keeping his body up is an insurmountable task all of a sudden. 

"How do you even know that blueberry muffins are my favorite, anyway?"

"You told me. My memory isn't as bad as you think it is, you know."

Nico's eyes dart between Will and the paper bag. Will puts the figurine down. He pries a piece of muffin off and rolls it between his fingers. "How was New Rome?"

"Good," Nico says. "I saw Hazel."

Will hums.

"I told her about what happened."

"You did?" Will asks. He doesn't know why that surprises him. 

"She told me that I should tell you that I'm an idiot."

"Did she?" 

"Yeah," Nico says. "She also said to tell you that I've been on my own for so long that I'm not used to having friends, but that doesn't mean I get a free pass to treat people like shit, and I need to learn how to rely on someone other than myself without freaking out." Nico heaves out a big breath. "That's the general gist of it, anyway."

"She must've been thinking about this a lot."

"All the time," Nico confesses. "And she still feels really, really shitty about it."

Will can't think of what to say in response, so he takes a bite of his muffin.

Nico shifts a little bit in his seat. Then he blurts out, "I'm sorry. I was being a jerk."

"Yeah, well," Will says, vaguely uncomfortable. "It happens."

Nico is silent for a moment. Finally, he says, "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Why aren't you yelling at me?" Nico demands. 

"Why are you so obsessed with fighting me?" Will asks back. 

Nico replies hotly, "I'm not _obsessed_ with you-"

"That's not what I meant!" Will interrupts. "What I meant was -- sometimes, it feels like you're testing me, Nico. And no matter how hard I try I can't give you the right answer. I'm sick of it, okay? Don't ask me to yell at you because you want someone to hurt your feelings. I won't do it."

"That's not why I want you to yell at me," Nico says. "I know that...that I'm not good with...any of this. It's like sometimes I want to make myself miserable. And everyone kinda lets me get away with it. Everyone except for you." 

"But-"

"But I shouldn't expect you to call me out for being a shithead when I should just know not to be a shithead."

"That's not what I was going to say," Will says.

"It's what I wanted to say. Will, I'm trying to change." Nico scoots as close as he can with a box in between them. He looks Will in the eye. "I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be miserable anymore.

"You know the first step is acceptance, right?" Will says. "Take it from an amateur psychologist - if you keep getting mad at yourself for being yourself, nothing’s going to change."

"Follow your own advice," Nico shoots back. "You know, I honestly thought you'd be better at standing up for yourself. What was your deal at the campfire? Being all fake, laughing at jokes you didn't even think were funny?"

Maybe if it was any other day, Will would feel more like arguing against that. But since the beginning of this conversation, he's felt a little fragile. He doesn't know if he can handle Nico calling him out for whatever flimsy excuse he'd come up with. Instead, he picks at the paper bag that the muffin came in, and starts ripping it in even, little shreds. 

"Will."

"I don't think the patient is supposed to analyze the psychologist."

"Well, I was never good at playing patient. And I don't want you to be my doctor, anyway."

Will rips a long strip of paper from the bag. Nico's large, pale hand comes and rests on top of his. Will goes still, hazards a glance up. Nico says, "Can you be my friend instead?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

Nico winces. "I wanted to make sure. But maybe you're right, I should've known seeing how you devoured that muffin-"

Will reaches out and lightly shoves Nico's shoulder. Nico sways back a bit, more than necessary, considering the fact that Will hardly touched him. Then he reaches up and shoves Will back, just as gently. It's so awkward it's excruciating, but Will can't help but grin. Nico must have some sort of magic power, Will thinks, if the touch of a hand is all it takes for a week's worth of hurt to melt away in an instant.

"You're still on thin ice, for your information," Will informs him.

"I _know_."

"It's gonna take a lot more than a muffin and atoy to make it up to me."

"It's afigurine, not a toy."

Will looks down at the cardboard box. "Oh, my gods."

"What, did you just realize that was in front of you?"

"No, I was just too busy being mad at you to notice that you're a total _nerd_ ," Will crows gleefully, pulling out a few random cards.

"Hey - be careful with that!" Nico squeaks, pushing at him to get them back.

Even as they wrestle, Will can't quite shake the feeling growing in his chest. There was a deep feeling of relief settling in his bones - like when you're away from home for a long time and finally get to sleep in your own bed.

Maybe it should have taken more than a five-minute conversation, a pastry, and a toy. But for as good of a liar Nico was, he was never particularly adept at hiding his feelings. He told Will that things would be different and Will believed him. 

Sometimes that's all you need.

Between catching up on what happened in New Rome, and updates on camp, Will doesn't return to the infirmary till a few hours later. By then, the infirmary is empty, save for Jessica, who's fixing the sheets on one of the cots. 

"No new patients?" Will asks Jessica.

"Slow day," Jessica replies. 

Will regards the white walls and white floors. It isn't often that you see the infirmary with a patient. "Hey. You wanna be bad kids and ditch this place?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. If there's an emergency, someone will call for us. It's not like there's a war going on, or anything." Will waves a hand through the nonchalantly.

Jessica smiles a little bit. "You're in a good mood."

"Not a word."

"If you don't want to talk about it, I'd advise we don't go back to the cabin. Dana's waiting to tear your head off."

Sure enough, the second Will walks through the door, Dana pops her head from the bunk and asks, "How was your day?" It's amazing how she manages to sound pointed and nonchalant and judgemental all at once. "Good!" Will replies brightly. He pulls off his hoodie and tosses it to his bunk. "How was yours?"

"Dana-" Jessica tries.

"Glad to hear it," Dana cuts her off. "Did the cupcake magically solve all your problems?"

"Muffin," Will corrects. "You've got to learn how to not talk about things you don't know anything about." 

"I know he hurt your feelings." Dana points out. "I know you spent the past week and a half sulking. And I know that it took you less than two seconds to forgive him because you've got no self-respect."

"Dana!" Jessica tries again. She glances between the two of them like there's a bomb about to go off. "Is this the best time to have this conversation?"

Will breaks eye-contact with her to regard the expressions of his other siblings, who don't even have the decency to pretend like they're not eavesdropping. Andrew, cowered in the corner of his bunk. Austin, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. John, Amber, Paul, frozen in place where they were fiddling with bows or guitars or books. They look uncomfortable. They look like they pity him a little bit. 

They don't look like they're on his side.

"I know it's useless when I tell you guys not to worry about me, but I still do. You want to know why?" Will says. "Because, believe it or not, I can take care of myself. I have good judgment. I know when I can handle things, and when I can't." Will looks back at Dana and takes a deep breath. "Would it kill you guys to trust me just a little?" 

At that moment, Will wanted nothing more than to sound strong, like a big brother. Like a head counselor. 

He doesn't.

His voice sounds shaky. 

He sounds small. 

Jessica says, "We trust you, Will." 

"I don't," Dana says. When she leaves, she slams the cabin door behind her.

Will heads towards the door.

"You should give her some space," Jessica says. 

"That's not where I'm going."

For the second time that day, he walks into the world with restless energy pulsing through his veins and a knot in his stomach. Without thinking about it too much, Will decides to walk to the lake. 

Every once in a while, someone raises a hand to wave at him. Will just offers a half-hearted smile in return and shoves his hands deeper into the pockets of his shorts. When he arrives, the sun is glimmering on its placid surface. Will picks up one of the stones from its rocky shore. He tries to skip it across the surface. It barely makes a ripple as it splashes into the water on the first skip. 

Time for a hard truth Will tries to not spend too much time thinking about: he isn't any good at being by himself. It's probably just a side-effect from being at camp since he was twelve years old. He was used to the constant fist-bumps and teasing, and hugs. He never wanted to go a day without them. He hasn't had to in a few years.

According to his mom, she got directions to Camp Half-Blood from a kind stranger at the hospital right when her first round of cancer got particularly bad. She followed it, and Chiron explained to her everything. They decided it'd be better for Will to stay at camp for most of the year. 

It's not like he was a particularly powerful demigod. His hands didn't even do anything cool, like glow or shoot out magical life-saving serums. He was just a normal guy with a specific skill-set. Barely qualified to be a demigod in the first place. Monsters didn't mess with him - which was perfectly fine by Will, who was terrified to mess with monsters.

Will figures that living with a parent who had spent most of their time in the hospital just didn't seem like the best option for the adults in the room.

He would never admit it out loud, but he agreed with him. 

During the school year, Will was forced to go back into the real world. He never wanted to go. His house was always dark, and quiet, and smelled like illness. His mom slept a lot of the time. She forbade him from trying to heal her, but he did it anyway, pressing his hands against her overheated skin when she slept. 

It didn't help.

He couldn't help her.

Will would curl up on the couch, exhausted, and turn on the television. He couldn't bear the silence. He'd pull out the tiny address scrawled on the back of a prescription pad from his mom's desk, where it was hidden. They never found out who it was that handed her the address - Chiron's best guess was that Apollo might have been paying careful attention to his past lover since she was spending so much time at the hospital, and decided to step in. Will privately thought that if Apollo felt that bad, he should've just healed her. Even so, he'd pour over every curve of every letter like it'd reveal the nature of his father to him. 

Then his mom died, and what his life some of the time became his life all of the time. Now, they were all he had.

So maybe what just happened with Dana should weigh a little more heavily on him. Maybe, a few months ago, it would have. It would have eaten him up for days, knowing that she thought those things about him. That she thought he was that weak.

But for all of his issues with insecurity, Will wasn't delusional enough to chase her down and apologize. 

She was wrong. No matter what anyone said, he knew that she was wrong. 

Nico would say just as much.

Will tries to skip a stone across the surface of the lack. It plops down almost instantly, a truly pathetic attempt. Despite everything, Will can't help but laugh. 

* * * 

Now that Nico is officially back, what was left of Will's self-control officially crumbled into ashes. Suddenly, he was popping up in front of Nico's cabin any spare chance he could, or tracking him down outside the mess hall,or helping him research something for Jason. It's probably only because of his other responsibilities that he doesn't spend most of his day at Nico's side, asking him stupid questions just to annoy him. Now that their fight was pretty much over and done with, a weird new hunger had sparked up inside of him. He wanted every second of Nico's day, every thought that was in his head, to know everything that had ever happened to him. The good thing is, unlike before, Nico was more than happy to indulge him.

The only downside: he seemed equally ravenous. 

For every story Will pried out of Nico, Nico demanded one in return. Before he knew it, he was telling Nico stories he'd never told to anybody else - about his mother, his life before camp, what he dreamt of at night. Any hesitation Will might have to tell Nico something probably completely disintegrated after Nico told him about Tartarus for the first time. After all, it's not like whatever dark thoughts Will had to say could be any worse than something Nico had already lived through.

The air was still a little strange around him. Neither of them were as combative as they used to be. But Will found that he didn't miss it. He didn't realize how exhausting constantly making pointed jabs was till he didn't have to do it anymore. Maybe something in New Rome had temporarily smoothed Nico's rough edges. Or maybe Will had finally knocked the last of Nico's walls down. 

Whatever it was, talking with Nico didn't feel like a fight anymore.

It felt kind of easy.

Will made a mental note to thank Hazel Grace if he ever got the chance. It was probably thanks to her that for all his years at Camp Half-Blood, this was the first time Will felt like he was on summer vacation. 

"Hold up," Will says. He presses a hand against Nico's chest to get him to stop walking. Nico glances down at his hand in surprise but doesn't say a word. "Lance is playing basketball."

Well - playing was a strong word. Lance was giving a valiant effort at bouncing the ball with some kids from the Hermes cabin. Most of his attention was devoted to sending winks to some girls just off-court with that irresistible smile of his.

Nico peers around Will's shoulder to the court. "Who's Lance?"

"Kid from Aphrodite cabin. He _hates_ sports. I've literally never seen him pick up a ball before. And yet - last week he got third-degree burns from the lava wall. Now he's playing _basketball_?"

Nico hums. "Seems like you keep pretty close tabs on him."

"Jealous?"

Will was hoping Nico would be totally flustered by that statement - maybe stutter out something cute like _That's not true!_. Instead, Nico says, "Hey, if one of us is the jealous type, it's not me."

"That's not true!" Will blurts. Nico cracks a smile. Will curses him internally. "It's not!"

To Will's horror, it's that moment that Lance turns his attention to them. He looks back and forth between the two of them conspicuously and then gives Will a big thumbs up. 

"Oh, gods," Will groans. He can already feel his cheeks turning bright red. He grabs Nico's shoulder and turns him away from the court. "Do me a favor and pretend you didn't see that."

Nonplussed, Nico continues, "You always act so weird when I bring up the fact that I actually interact with other people." 

"I do _not_ ," Will protests half-heartedly.

"Then what's your obsession with Jason about?"

"I'm not _obsessed_ with Jason." Will protests. "Other than the fact that he's your only other blonde, talented, friendly _friend_ and he's a lot more muscular and tall and powerful than me."

Nico stares at him, but instead of addressing any of the multiple embarrassing implications of Will's statement, he asks, "So which is it? Are you jealous or just insecure?"

"What?" Will splutters.

"I'm trying to find out which problem I have to deal with." Nico tilts his head. "Maybe it's both."

"Maybe it's _neither_."

"Solace. You are not allowed to be possessive about me."

"I-"

"You're not allowed to be insecure either," Nico declares. "That's even more annoying."

Clearly, denial wasn't getting Will anywhere. Playing dumb probably wouldn't be any more effective. In a last-ditch attempt to even the playing field, Will shoots back, "Well, if I have to deal with your issues, you have to deal with mine."

Nico blinks at him. " _Jason_? Really?"

Will waves a hand in the air. "We all have our thing. You yell at me and then disappear for a week. I compare myself to Jason. We're even!" 

"Barely," Nico points. "I'm working on getting over my issues. You gotta get over yours too, otherwise, I'll win."

"Working on our personality defects is not a competition."

Nico's eyes glimmer in the sunlight. "You sure about that?"

"Fuck you," Will says sourly. "Now I _have_ to win."

Nico laughs. Will hoards the image of it like it's gold; the crinkled nose, the squinted eyes, his cute teeth. Will never thought that he'd call someone's _teeth_ cute, but he never thought he'd like a guy like Nico di Angelo, either.

It's funny how life works out.

Will squeezes Nico's shoulder with an intense look. "By the way, if you ever laugh like that in front of anyone else," he says gravely. "I'll kill you."

Nico grins. " _Possessive._ "

Will can't find a good argument for that, so he just shrugs. 

"Speaking of personality defects," Nico says. "Hey, Jason."

Will lets him go and backs away a step or two. Jason approaches them looking an equal mix of wary and confused. "Is that supposed to be an insult?"

Will glances at Nico, who has schooled his expression to be as somber as possible. "Anything can be an insult if you think about it hard enough. Hey, did you know I'm not allowed to smile around you anymore?"

Will kicks Nico's shin. "Excuse him," he tells Jason. "He's lacking a brain-to-mouth filter. It's a medical marvel, I've never seen a case this advanced before."

"Glad to see you two getting along," Jason replies. "How are you doing, Will?"

"I'm good. People have been getting injured less lately, which is horrible for business but great for my social life. How was New Rome? You find anything interesting?"

Jason glances at Nico. "Haven't you told him yet, Nico?"

Nico looks up. "Uh..."

For a second, Will's blood runs cold. Then, Nico asks, "Remember when you told me about Kelly?" 

That...was not what Will was expecting to hear. Feeling a bit of whiplash, he says, "Um...yeah?"

"We might want to take a look at her." 

Will looks between the two of them. "No way. There's no way they're connected."

"Well, we have reason to believe they are," Nico says.

"I can't just take you to Kelly. It's not that easy."

"Why not?"

"Will," Jason says. "We wouldn't ask unless it was absolutely necessary."

Will looks between the two of them. "If we're doing this," he starts. "I have to be involved. Every step of the process, okay?"

"Obviously," Nico replies. Jason nudges him in the side and shakes his head as if to say, _don't push it_.

"Piper too." Will declares. 

"I don't see any benefit in telling her, though ."

"You asshole," Will snaps. "It's not about _benefits_. It's about respecting her as a person who, for some reason, cares about the two of you. _And_ about Leo. She has a right to information, you know." 

"Right," Nico says, with a knowing look. " _She_ does."

Will points a finger at him. "I thought we agreed to leave the psychoanalysis to the professionals."

"I agree to your terms, okay? Now, can you take us the girl who made you vomit or not?"

"Gods," Jason groans. "You sound way too excited about that."

They agree to meet up the following night to look at Kelly. Jason and Nico have to have a much-needed chat with Piper, and Will needs to break the news to his cabin. It wasn't much, but Will could see a new spark in both Jason and Nico's eyes. Whatever this was, it was progress. It was something to work towards.

He parts ways with them near the lake. Nico gives him a goofy grin in front of Jason just to tease him. Will gives him the middle finger in response. 

He does his best to squish down the sappy feeling that tends to overwhelm him when he's around Nico and put on the air of someone even remotely put together. "Is anyone dying?" Will declares as he walks in.

Jessica looks up from her patient with a dry look. "Not that I'm aware of."

"Good! All - uh, I guess _senior_ Apollo campers, come to the office!"

"Family meeting!" Austin whoops from the back. 

"Any kids around today?" Will asks Jessica.

"Uh, I think they're scheduled to ride with the pegasus at the moment?"

"Perfect! Where's Dana?"

"Here," Dana says. She's sitting in a chair next to an empty cot. "I'm giving you the silent treatment, by the way."

"Can you suspend the treatment for one meeting? I need some advice."

"Can you figure out anything on your own?" Dana shoots back. 

"Fine." He turns to Jessica. "Dana's excluded from the 'senior counselors' group effective immediately."

"Hey!" Dana protests.

"If you're gonna act like a kid, you'll be treated like a kid," Will tells her. "Why don't you go find some pegasi to fly while the adults talk?"

Once the three of them are in the office, door locked securely behind them, Jessica says, "That went a little too far, don't you think?" 

Instead of addressing that, Will says, "Jason and Nico want to take a look at Kelly."

"What?" Austin's face goes pale. "Why?"

"Something to do with the unofficial quest they're on." Will shrugs. "Classified, top-secret, type stuff. Apparently what they're looking for and what hurt her might be connected."

Jessica hums. "Do you think that's such a good idea?"

Sheepishly, Austin adds, "She's in bad shape. I don't know if she can handle being experimented on."

"Well, we've tried everything else. We obviously can't heal her. Maybe a fresh perspective could show us something we missed," Jessica says. 

"But shouldn't that be the perspective of, like, a medical person? Not _the child of Death_?"

"You think Nico's aura could harm her?" Jessica asks.

"It's a possibility."

"He didn't affect anybody while he was in here," Will points out.

"Well, that's because he was in worse condition than anyone there. The dude was so weak, he was _literally_ fading."

"He's stronger now," Jessica agrees.

"I don't think he influences people like that," Will insists.

"Regardless, it's an unknown variable," Jessica says. "You have to take it into account."

"Well, this has been great feedback," Will sighs. "Except for one tiny problem."

"Will..."

"I already told them they could do it."

"Knew it." Austin groans. "Dana's right. Now that you and Nico are back together, you're so whipped.'

"We're _not_ together, and Dana's _not_ right. I'm telling you guys," Will says. "I have this feeling in my gut, okay? Jason and Nico will do anything to find Leo. If Kelly really is connected, then they'll do everything in their power to heal her, too. I really, really think this could be a good thing."

"What's the point in asking us, then?" Jessica asks.

"External validation?" Will tries. When that joke doesn't quite land, he says, "I do actually trust your opinions, you know. One word from you two, and I'll go to Nico and tell him that I changed my mind."

"You sure about that?" Austin asks.

"I swear it on the River Styx!"

"Okay." Austin claps Will on the back. "Then, we're behind you, head counselor."

"One hundred percent." Jessica agrees.

Will feels a deep surge of affection come up from his heart, through his blood, to his fingertips. He reaches out to hug the two of them. "I love you guys."

"Ew. Sentimental Will is my least favorite Will," Jessica crinkles her nose.

"Come here, let me kiss you real quick-" Will leans in with puckered lips. Jessica shrieks in an uncharacteristically uncomposed manner and barely escapes without a scratch.

Austin accepts his kiss on the cheek with the utmost grace, and then tells him, "Your breath seriously stinks."

* * * 

The next day, Austin and Will usher Jason, Nico, and Piper towards the back of the Big House. They pick their way over old furniture covered in white sheets. There's so much dust in the room you can see it drift in the air. Piper sneezes.

"Oh, weird," Nico says.

"What?" Will asks.

"You know Chris? Clarisse's boyfriend? Remember how he went down to the Labyrinth once and went insane?" 

"Oh, my gods, _yes_. I begged Chiron to let me get a look at him but he didn't let me."

"Yeah, well, Percy told me that this is where they kept him while he was recovering."

"Pause." Austin stops walking. "How come I've literally never heard any of this before?"

"I've met Chris! He's nice," Piper says. "I had no clue that happened to him."

"Me neither," Jason adds.

Will and Nico exchange a glance. "Sometimes I forget that you guys only got here, like, a few years ago," Will says. 'Meanwhile, I met this guy for the first time when he was _ten_."

" _Eleven_." Nico corrects.

"I can't even imagine a ten-year-old Nico," Jason says. 

"He was cute," Will grins. "All big eyes and obsessed with Mythomagic."

"Solace." Nico grits out.

"Actually, now that I think about it, not much has changed."

"Can you take us to Kelly already?"

"Right, right," Austin says. "This way."

Will pretends he doesn't catch Jason mouthing _cute_ and Piper gagging while Nico furiously signals for them to shut up. They arrive at the very back of the basement, where there's a big, dark curtain hiding a large section of the room. 

"You ready?" Austin asks the group. Jason, Nico, and Piper stare back at him. 

"Um," Jason says. 

"Yes!" Piper confirms. 

"I mean… what she said," Jason says weakly.

"Jason's really in the doghouse," Will whispers to Nico.

Nico snorts. "Not really. She's more pissed at me than she is at him. Jason just feels bad."

"Typical." Will sighs.

"Jealous." Nico points out.

Austin clears his throat loudly. Will pinches Nico's side to shush him and ignores the glare he gets in response. "Okay, so, um...I'm sure Will already warned you, but she's in a very sensitive state. Don't touch her, or any of the stuff around her. Will and I have spent enough time around her that we don't think whatever she has is contagious but it'd still be good to be cautious."

"And there's a trashcan in there if you need to vomit!" Will adds cheerfully.

The rest of the group looks vaguely uncomfortable, but Nico barely manages to mask his laugh with a cough, so Will counts it as a win.

Austin opens the curtain.

There she is. Kelly.

Will watches anxiously for their reactions.

Most of her body is underneath a blanket - courtesy of Will and Austin prepping her the night before. What you can see of her is awful. Her face is so bloated you can barely make out her facial features, and pus is spilling out her nose. Her mouth is open - she’s making a weird wheezing sound, like a pug who's overexcited. The worst of her skin is covered in gauze and tape - freshly reapplied the night before. There are no spots of blood yet - which was a good sign, Will notes. What's exposed is an angry purple color with dark blue bruising. Tubes that help her system continue as normally as possible stick out of her arms into IV bags.

"Oh, my gods," Piper says. Her eyes are shining with tears. "How did she get like this?"

"As far as Chiron can tell, it was a spell that backfired." Will answers. "What kind of spell, we have no clue."

"Is she conscious?" Jason asks. He doesn't seem much better off - his jaw is clenched with the effort not to viscerally react. "Would she be able to hear us?"

Austin shrugs. "She's definitely awake, but she's unresponsive." He waves a hand over her swollen eyes. She doesn't even blink. 

Will looks at Nico, who's standing at a cautious distance. His eyes are glued to Kelly's face. He doesn't look disgusted, just intrigued. Suddenly, he screws them shut.

"What are you-" Austin starts, but Will shushes him.

Nico opens his eyes. "Interesting," he says faintly.

"What?" Jason asks.

"I'm trying to see how close she is to death, but I can't tell." Nico says. "It's like her spirit is just...gone."

"Just like Leo." Jason says.

"Just like Leo." Nico confirms.

Ten minutes later, Austin and Will have to usher the others out. Her condition didn't get any worse or better, but it was better not to risk long exposure to other demigod's powerful auras. Jason and Nico don't stop talking the whole walk back to the center of camp, going on about books and myths and spells Will never even heard of before.

Austin looks curiously haggard. "You okay?" Will asks him in a low whisper.

"Highkey, man," Austin whispers back. "That stressed me the fuck out."

"Yeah," Will agrees. "Me too."

After having a patient solely under their care for so long, it was nerve-wracking to have three new people come in and gawk at her. 

"We're gonna go find the Hecate cabin and ask them a couple of questions. You should come with us," Jason proposes. "This is part of the process, after all."

"Thanks but," Will glances at Austin. "I'm gonna have to pass. I think we have some quality sibling time scheduled for right about now." 

"I'll see you later," Nico says, looking at him intently. "I'll stop by once I'm done."

"Dana won't let you past the front door," Austin snorts. 

"Dana's not in charge," Will retorts.

"Besides," Nico says, a creepy little smile growing on his face."There's more than one way to get inside of a building."

"You don't know how much I hated the way you said that. Like, literally, you cannot fathom it." 

"I'll see you later," Nico repeats.

"Okay," Will says back. Austin elbows him in the side. "Okay! Okay, bye."

He doesn't take a step yet. Nico doesn't either.

"Okay, bye," Nico repeats. Jason cuffs the back of his head. 

Austin practically has to drag Will away.

That night during dinner, Dana makes a point to sit as far away from him as possible.

* * * 

Nico's limbs splay out awkwardly from where he was sitting under the shade of a pine tree. He was like a cute baby deer, Will thinks, that didn't quite have full control over their limbs yet. Growth spurts will do that to you. His arms are pale where they stuck out of his oversized, baggy black shirt. Nico had gained some weight over the past month or so, but not nearly enough to make up for years of neglect. It was progress, though. Any progress is good progress. 

Nico looks up to him and scowls. "Stop staring at me."

"You look good, di Angelo," Will says before he can stop himself. Nico stares at him like horns just sprouted from his head. Will pats his head self-consciously. "I only mean - you look healthy. Healthier."

Nico stares at him for another second, and then says, "Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome!" Will says cheerfully and sits down next to Nico before he says anything else stupid. Will knocks one of his knees, bare and tanned, against Nico's jean-clad one. Nico bumps him with his shoulder. Will grins and discreetly shifts himself a little closer. Nico doesn't push him away.

It takes everything in Will not to marvel at the fact that a few days ago he was convinced that Nico hated his guts - and now here he is, letting Will press into his personal space without so much as another glance. Something was different around them. The antagonist barbs that might have struck a little too close to home a few weeks ago felt gentler. Like they were trying to be careful with each other for the first time.

In fact, it was in moments like these - where Nico brushes off whatever stupid things Will impulsively blurts out, and plays along when Will overcompensates for his nerves through jokes and gets over their fight as if nothing had ever happened - where Will thinks he might actually have a chance. That maybe Nico might like him back. 

Nico leans his head against the tree trunk. Will watches the line of his throat, over his Adam’s apple, and down to the collar of his shirt, which was so loose, it exposed a sliver of his collarbone. Nico catches Will's eyes and raises an eyebrow. "You still need to gain some weight," Will says in defense of himself. He pokes Nico's collarbone as if it's proof. 

Nico rolls his eyes and shifts the shirt back to where it should be. "I've already gained like twenty pounds."

"Get another twenty, just to be safe."

"Will," Nico says, "Drop it, okay?"

"But-"

"Can you stop playing doctor?" Nico sighs, slouching against the tree trunk. "I didn't come here for a check-up."

"Then what did you come here for?" 

Nico closes his eyes. The sunlight filters through the leaves on his face, making his usually-pale skin glow like gold. He shrugs. "I just want some Will-Nico time right now."

"Will-Nico time sounds good," Will responds softly. "Is the stuff with Jason stressing you out, or something?"

"The _last_ thing I need is to think about Jason right now."

Will tries not to feel too happy about that. "Right. Okay. So you've come to me for a distraction! I can be a distraction. Just give me a minute..."

Nico screws one eye open. "Are you trying to distract me or put me to sleep?"

"Why not both? Wait - I got it - I'm gonna tell you a story..." Will begins dramatically. Nico huffs. Will shoots him a glare. "Shut up - no, be quiet, I am."

"Solace..."

"Stop it. I'm being serious." Will insists, pressing a hand against Nico's chest so that he can't get up. After a few seconds of struggling, Nico gives up and slumps back. He's smiling a little bit - in the places where people normally don't look. On the edges of his mouth, the corners of his eyes. He's smiling, and he's looking Will straight in the eye. If it was anyone else, Will would take it as nothing more than the basic sign that they're paying attention. But Nico isn't like everyone else. 

Still, if Will let himself think about the implication of that for longer than two seconds, he might collapse. So instead, he barrels on, "OK. A story. I know plenty of stories."

"If you're trying to make me go to sleep, it’s not-"

"Once upon a time," Will interrupts, "There was a grumpy little boy. He was pale and grouchy and complained to everyone who would listen."

"What was his name?" Nico asks.

"Uh - Nick."

"Ouch," Nico says, his little smile widening. "Oh no, I didn't see that one coming."

Will pinched his side. " _Nick_ had a gorgeous best friend. He was brilliant and very talented and tried to show Nick the beauty of life!"

"What was his name? Jason?" 

"That's _not_ funny."

"Aw, I'm kidding! Hey - don't _pout_ , Solace. I take it back, his name was...uh, Bill?"

"His name was Bill," Will agrees with a dark look, "And all he wanted in return was a little affection every once in a while. Maybe even a _thank you._ But instead, Nick insisted on being grumpy. So Bill set out on the marvelous quest to find a friend who would appreciate him."

"A little _affection_?" Nico repeats. "What does Bill mean by that?"

"Oh, you know," Will waves a hand nonchalantly. "Maybe if Nick could stop acting so embarrassed every time Bill tries to interact with him in public, that'd be a good start."

"People _stare_ when Nick interacts with him, and Bill gets embarrassed when people stare. So maybe he's doing it out of consideration of Bill's dignity."

"Billdoes not get embarrassed!"

"Tell that to him next time he blushes." Nico waves a hand nonchalantly. "What's next? What else is on this list of _affection_?"

Will shrugs. "Nothing, I guess."

"Will."

"It's stupid."

"Fine. But when Nick doesn't do it because he's not a _mind reader_ -"

."Okay, okay, okay!" Will shrugs. "Maybe Nick should give out a compliment every once in a while. You know, normal affectionate stuff."

Nico sits up so suddenly that Will lets his hand fall away without much resistance. Now that he's upright, Will notices how close they are to each other. Barely a breath away between their faces. "Does this count?" Nico asks.

"Does _what_ count?"

"This," Nico repeats, and a cool hand comes to rest on the back of Will's neck - and Will was not expecting this. One second they're goofing around, and the next Nico is looking at him, all serious, like all the secrets of the universe are plastered on Will's face. Nico leans in a breath closer and says, "You're a really good friend, Will."

Will should be more embarrassed about how much a single sentence could affect him. The way it sent a shiver down his spine and blood rushing to his face. The way that he had to look away - because maybe if Nico looked long enough in his eyes, he could see all the secrets hiding inside of Will, too. He looks down, and he whispers, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Nico replies, as easy as anything. He hooks a finger in Will's collar and continues, "I think I've ensured at least a few more weeks of friendship before you go looking for someone more _appreciative._ "

"You do think highly of yourself," Will says, his voice still sounding a little distant. "But I promise I'll let you know as soon as you need to renew your subscription."

Nico laughs at that and Will tears his eyes away, and all he can think is _of course, of course, of course_. 

Of course, being friends with Nico di Angelo would be as intense and moody and terrifying as Nico di Angelo himself - one second you're enjoying the sunshine, not a care in the world. The next, Nico has taken your hand and you're shadow-traveling, teeth jittering, the fastest you've ever felt your body go, barely having a hold on yourself. And then you come out of the shadows back into the sunshine again, shaking and terrified but the most alive you've felt in a long, long while. 

* * * 

"You could do with looking a little less lovesick, you know." Dana points out. 

It's the first thing she's said to him in a week. Will looks up from the stack of papers he was dropping off in the office. The only light in the room is the glow coming from the lamp. He barely sees her where she's sitting on the floor, next to the file cabinets.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Will responds primly.

"Oh, please." Dana scoffs. She crosses her elbows on her knees, and rests her head on top of that, facing away from him. 

Will sits next to her. "So you've finally decided to break your silence. Any particular reason why?"

"You've been disgusting recently," Dana says. "Everyone else is too happy for you to complain."

"And you're not happy for me, I gather?"

Dana looks up. "No one else was there when you told me, Will. They didn't see how you talked about it. He made you feel like shit about yourself. How can you act like nothing happened?"

"I'm not," Will says. Dana scoffs. Will continues, "I'm a great actor, but I'm not that good." 

"I don't get you."

"Dana, we're still learning how to be friends. It takes a while to get to know someone. I know it's hard to tell, but he's trying. He's probably trying harder than I am."

"You don't want to be friends, though," Dana says. "You want something more."

"So?"

"Does Nico want that?"

Will's face heats up. "Do the hard work for me and ask him for me, will you?"

"He likes you," Dana says. "It's obvious."

"You don't know that."

"You deserve someone better."

"I don't," Will says. "I don't think that there's anyone in this world good enough for Nico di Angelo."

"Well, I don't think there's anyone in the world good enough for you."

"Good thing he doesn't like me, then, right?" Will says brightly. 

"You're insufferable."

"Hey, hey, Dana. Look at me." Will says. Dana reluctantly looks up."I might get hurt. Sure, that might happen. And if I do, you have full reign to kick Nico di Angelo's ass."

"Really?"

"But until that moment," Will says. "You've got to trust me. Nico and I have moved past what happened together. It was a misunderstanding of drastic proportions, okay? So hold off calling me an idiot until you've got evidence to back your argument."

"Fine." Dana grits out. "But I swear to Apollo, Will - if shit happens and you start blaming yourself again, Nico Di Angelo won't be the only guy I'm beating up, okay?"

Will grins. "Now that we've signed that verbal contract on consensual violence, can we be friends again? I've missed my favorite sibling," 

"Liar. Andrew's your favorite."

"Are you kidding? That shrimp? I can barely handle him. Now, if I had to choose just one of you guys to hang out with for the rest of the time, it'd be you, no question." Will proclaims. "Who else is gonna call me out for being disgusting, huh?"

"Stupid." Dana sniffs. Will wraps an arm around her. 

For the first time in a long while, she hugs him back. 

* * * 

"What is that?" Will asks. 

"Um. Well." There's a tinge of pink tinging Nico's cheeks now, just the barest, as he looks down at the basket he's carrying. "Well, last time-"

"I thought you were scared of strawberries," Will interrupts. "I thought you were a stickler for rules."

"Well - it - you said it'd take a while to make it up to you, right?" Nico says.

"Right."

"And you called it revenge last time, didn't you?"

"Ah. So this is peace offering number three."

Nico winces. "It's so creepy when you smile like that." Nico's been by the infirmary a lot recently - probably to prove a point about acting normal in front of other people. He never stays for long, though - only enough time to drop off a muffin or weird bone or whatever else Nico's picked up doing research and to feel distinctly uncomfortable as Dana burns holes in the back of his head with her glare. Nico's looking nervous this time around, too. He rarely has restless energy - but now he's bouncing on his feet, looking back and forth like someone's out to get him.

"Okay," Will says. "I can meet you there in ten."

"You're crazy if you think I'll wait that long," Nico says. "How about now?"

Will looks pointedly down at the paperwork he's filling out. Nico places the basket on the table. 

Dana says, "Just go on your date, already."

If anything was going to break a classic Will-Nico stalemate, it would be one of his siblings saying something mortifying. "Not a date," Will hisses, grabbing Nico's arm, and drags him to the back where it's dark.

Shadowtravelling was just as bad the second time as the first. Will's just a little bit better at playing it cool.

The strawberry fields are even more beautiful than they were last time. The golden tinge of the setting sun almost makes the fruit look redder, the grass greener, Nico's eyes hazel. They don't even bother picking fruits for that long - last time it took Will a week to work through his last basket and he was determined not to make the same mistake again. Within five minutes, they're sprawled on the grass, looking up at the clouds. 

There's something in the air that's making Will feel a little reckless. Before he knows it, the words are slipping out of his mouth. "I'm really, really happy, Nico."

"Any particular reason why?" Nico asks. "You didn't take something before coming here or something, did you?"

Will punches his arm. "Be serious for once in your life, will you?"

"I'm serious all the time."

"Not around me."

Nico doesn't say anything in response, but he doesn’t deny it either. Will decides to push his luck and continue, "I was really worried, you know. That things would be ruined between us.."

"What, because of our fight?"

"Come on, weren't you scared?"

Nico is silent for a moment. Then he says, "Not because of that."

Will sits up and looks down at him. "Why, then?"

Nico doesn't look him in the eye when he says, "You're the only other person who knows."

Realization hits Will's chest like dumbbell iron. _Oh. Of course._

"You were the only other person I told. I didn't want to change things and it did."

"It didn't change things!" Will tries, half-heartedly, but he doesn't believe it. He had noticed how Nico had retreated, like Will's touch would burn him. Will had backed off, too, a little bit. It was easy to touch and to flirt when he thought he had no chance. But now, knowing that he might- that Nico was gay - well, it didn't feel so simple anymore.

Then, they fought, and Nico came back, and there was so much else going on that it had slipped from his mind. Nico probably hasn't stopped thinking about it since it happened though.

"It did!" Nico says. "And everyone keeps - there were times that I wished I didn't tell you. I liked us the way that we were."

"Well, too bad," Will shrugs. "I like us better now."

Nico doesn't respond.

Will says, "I'm sorry."

Nico scrunches his nose. "For what?"

"For how I was at the campfire. You were right to call me out for it. It's just -" Will sighs. "I just really wanted them to like me. I had to make a good impression, you know? Not be a massive dork, like I am around you. But that's my issue, you know. I'm working on it. "

Nico stares at him. "You're such a dumbass."

"What?" Will splutters. "Why?"

"Can't you see that you're - you know what? Forget it." Nico huffs and looks away. 

"You can't just _say_ things like that and then not follow through!" Will protests, leaning closer in. He tries to tug his arms so that they're not crossed anymore, but Nico shoves him off. "Come on. Tell me. What were you going to say?"

"You're going to make fun of me."

"I won't! I promise!" Will holds his hand out like he's about to take an oath. Then, his eyes widen. "We should have a word for that. Like, if either of us says it, then we know that we can't make fun of whatever they're about to say."

Nico glances at him, his lips curling in that way that means he's trying hard not to smile. "You mean, like a safe-word?"

"What's that?"

Nico snorts. "Forget it." He turns to face him anyway, looking highly amused all of sudden. "Okay. What should our word be?"

Will hums as he thinks about it. He looks around, looking for a bout of inspiration. "How about….strawberries?"

"Strawberries," Nico repeats.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, I guess..." 

"Okay, so. Strawberries. Go ahead." Will rests his chin on his hand in an attempt to look attentive.

Nico rolls his eyes. "Okay. Strawberries. I don't have a clue how you can say any of that stuff about yourself." He rips a stem off a strawberry, "To me, you're perfect. And I know that objectively, you have flaws or whatever, but I _like_ your flaws, too. Everyone sees you as this perfectly competent, funny, empathetic guy. Whatever issues you have aren't deal breakers for anyone I know. So it's really weird to see you act all insecure. Okay?"

For a second, all Will could do was stare. Nico stares back, looking stupidly earnest. Will is struck with a deep revelation. 

To everyone else, he's all spikes and skulls and big _WARNING_ signs. To Will, he's this; huge, warm, brown eyes, dark wisps of hair curling around his ears, which are tinged slightly pink. It's like when a hedgehog rolls over and wants you to pet its belly. Will's voice breaks a little bit when he says, "Strawberries. I really want to believe you."

Nico doesn't even blink. "If there's one thing you should've learned from me by now, Solace, it's that you don't have to make everything so fucking hard for yourself. Believe it, don't believe it. As long as you know that I mean it."

"I know you do," Will replies almost too quickly, and isn't that precisely the problem. He doesn't know what he did to convince Nico so deeply that he was worth his time. And he doesn't know how long it'll take before that illusion begins to crack.

Nico shrugs, and the pink tinge from his ears has traveled down to his cheeks now. "Okay."

"Okay."'

They stew in awkward silence for a few moments. Nico picks at the grass. Will can't bring himself to tear his eyes away from his face. Suddenly, Nico blurts out, "Strawberries is a _stupid_ safe-word."

"Agreed. Want to hear the good news?" 

"Nothing even remotely near _good_ came out of this deeply humiliating experience."

"I wouldn't be so sure."Will rips up a bunch of grass and sprinkles it over Nico's face like confetti. Nico sneezes."Congratulations, Nick! You've bought yourself a whole month's subscription of Bill's friendship."

"Just in time for the end of the summer," Nico replies deadpan. He wipes his face of stray blades of grass. "Nick will be glad to be rid of you, then."

"Well, it's not like Bill's going anywhere." Will sighs. "Unless...Nick…?"

Nico looks away. 

Will tugs the end of Nico's shirt. "You're not serious. You promised-"

"I never promised I'd stay forever," Nico replies. His voice drops down low like he's hoping Will might not even hear him. "Come on, Will. You know I'm not the type to stay in one place for long. I have family out there, too."

"When are you leaving?"

"I don't know. Depends on where I'm needed, I guess."

"You're needed _here._ " Will blurts out. "I mean, um...well, Bill needs you here!"

They look at each other. The sky is stained by deep pinks, purples as the sun sets on the fields behind them. Will feels it bubble up inside of him again - the feeling that was too big too name, too big for his chest. He wants to put the feelings into words. He wants to throw all caution in the air and lean in. 

He thinks maybe Nico wants him to.

Will doesn't. 

Nico says, "I promise I'll stay until the end of summer."

"This is Camp Half-Blood. The summer never ends around here." Will replies, easy as anything. 

"Yeah." Nico agrees. 

The sun sinks down lower over the strawberry fields of Camp Half-Blood. 

Will looks at Nico. 

Nico looks at him back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For everyone suffering how much time its taking for the two of them to get together - don't worry, it'll all be okay sooooooon. Next chapter will probably be a shorter one. It'll be up....let me be generous here...definitely before the end of the year! Hopefully before then! We'll see how badly life screws me over!


End file.
